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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25114027">That Femme X2</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintStarBorealis9/pseuds/MintStarBorealis9'>MintStarBorealis9</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Transformers: Prime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mystery, Original Universe, Redemption</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:08:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>59,014</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25114027</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintStarBorealis9/pseuds/MintStarBorealis9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Between healing Cybertron and an unexpected friend, what do they do now? Thankfully...some answers just...fall out of the sky, cause trouble, raise heads, and start fights simply because they can. Some answers darkly whisper from the dark corner of one's past...in this story, it does both.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Mysteries, Interviews, and Questions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story is 1,000% for fun. The first one didn't end like I thought it would and I had to finish the story...not just for my sister's sake either.<br/>I don't own Megatron, Starscream, or the other Transformers or their world of Cybertron.<br/>I do own Sonica, Gemshade, Sinstorm, and the world of Chrysalis...plus the made up energon types outside of red, blue, and dark energon.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Knockout drives at top speed and it still isn’t fast enough. As Sonica’s personage grows bigger in his accelerated approach, he sees her shyly standing there between Starscream and Smokescreen; they seem to be arguing about something but he doesn’t care.<br/>
He gets really close and shows no signs of slowing. Sonica warily backs up a couple steps. He transforms in a nanoklik then digs his heels into the ground, a few strides before glomping her. His momentum scoots them back a couple more measures before they finally stop. Neither of them are damaged save maybe a couple scratches. It’s quiet and there are no complaints or comments; just dust and their tight embrace around one another.<br/>
Starscream and Smokescreen forget their conversation and watch Sonica’s arms shake and her head hiding in his shoulder. In the quiet, however, their minds linger on what they were discussing.<br/>
Sonica hadn’t said anything until Starscream arrived and started prying, which Smokescreen didn’t like, but the only answer they’ve gotten is a mumbled: I’m alone.<br/>
That was far from satisfying but Smokescreen stood in the way of further interrogation. Starscream came back with how unusual it is that she isn’t talking--- that she always talks--- and that should help her return to normal if nothing else. Plus...he REALLY wants to know what exactly happened.<br/>
“You’ve been gone for three solar cycles,” Knockout begins and fills her in on the few things that have changed. He’s sure to add that their living space isn’t one of those things. With that, he invites her as he releases his embrace, “Let’s go home.”</p><p>Starscream likes their place...even with all the Autobots in it. Knockout has taken full charge over Sonica’s welfare and his first rule is Sonica doesn’t leave their home until she’s ready.<br/>
He’s been tagging along as he has nothing else to do and as much as it pains him, he grudgingly gets her a glass of energon while she sits between Knockout and Smokescreen. She has yet to say anything more and the Autobots are beginning to crowd in. He found it maddening until Megatron landed on their balcony and walked in straight to Sonica. Now it’s intolerable.<br/>
By this time, all the Autobots have come in to greet her awkwardly and now stand by like grave-markers.<br/>
Politely and gently, Megatron moves their small center table to the side, and crouches in front of her. All he does is look at her and ask, “Do you want to talk about it?”<br/>
She spills. Her words fall to her lap, pour all over the floor and soaks the air in hollow emotion. It’s heavy and cold enough no one is motivated to move.<br/>
Starscream stands in the kitchen, away from the group but close enough to hear. Her story wakes a fear in him he didn’t know he had. Is Sonica the only one Primus has rejected? If not, who does he let enter the AllSpark? Glancing around at the others, he sees the same worry. It compounds on the fear he has.<br/>
In a dead pause following her tale, they ruminate over it all. The moments drag on like stellar cycles and they’re lost in thought.<br/>
Until Megatron’s deadpanned voice penetrates it, “I think you’re wrong, Sonica.”<br/>
She starts to snap back but he yells over her.<br/>
“Unicron said you were a copy. Do you still think so?”<br/>
No one moves as the facts start to point elsewhere from what they were thinking.<br/>
Bumblebee moves and catches everyone’s eye but he says nothing. There’s no need. The facts are there: Sonica wasn’t allowed in the AllSpark and she’s alone. The only thing that’s shifted is perspective: she sent her sister’s home and she was set back out to live her own life--- not as the copy she was told she was. She’s separate, she’s free.<br/>
“I think Primus did you a favor.” Megatron stands and holds out a hand, “Let’s get to work.”<br/>
As if on cue, Ultra Magnus is paged through his com-link. One of the vehicons is yelling over the sounds of a brawl, his voice is heard outside the com-link.<br/>
“Sir, the arrivals may be on the brink of a physical fight. We don’t have enough resources to prevent it.”<br/>
“We’ll be right there. Do what you can.” He looks to the others and reluctantly, they glance to Sonica with a light “see you later” statement before walking out the door and into vehicle mode.<br/>
Ultra Magnus is about to follow them but pauses to ask Sonica: “If you feel up to it, we could use some help with the newly arrived survivors.”<br/>
“There’s a ship here?” She looks up from Megatron’s hand.<br/>
He nods, “Smokescreen can bring you along or you can go back in the watch tower with Knockout.” With that, he leaves.</p><p> </p><p>Ultra Magnus sits in front of one of the many bots they caught in the squabble. It’s kind of an experimental procedure but if it proves to work well, they’ll incorporate it into new law enforcement to come. Step one, is interview the involved.<br/>
The bot crosses his stout arms and his long face frowns downs his chin, which has a deep scuff in it.<br/>
“This will go faster if you cooperate...” He glances at the name again, finding his old records from his time on the ship. He’s a well-behaved bot save a few out-bursts, so what made him lash out like this?<br/>
“I don’t think you’ll understand, sir.”<br/>
“Try me.” He interlocks his hands and hopes the others are having an easier time.</p><p>Bee tilts his head, “You’re telling me, one bot started all this a long time ago?”<br/>
“In a manner of speaking,” the orange fellow across from him has a desperate tone to his voice, “I’m telling you, this bot is actually a ghost.”<br/>
Bee doesn’t know how to respond; his mind is drawing a blank.<br/>
“You think I’m crazy.” He juts his chin out in a strange way.<br/>
“I didn’t say you’re crazy.”<br/>
“You’re thinking it. I see it in your optics.”<br/>
Bee feels himself slowly leaning away from him. “How did you meet this...ghost?”<br/>
“In the craziest way you can think of: POPS up out of nowhere and taps on the glass on the front of the ship. Honestly, that should’ve been our first sign. We should have never opened the work deck.”</p><p>Arcee sighs, “Alright, does this bot have a record on the ship that we can look at?”<br/>
His heavily helmeted head looks down, confused.<br/>
“What’s wrong?”<br/>
“There is no record. I would know. I’ve been keeping them.”<br/>
“Didn’t you say you’ve all been accounted for since take off from Cybertron?”<br/>
“Yes. And we were.”<br/>
“Then why is there no record? Did you just decide not to make one?”<br/>
He lifts his thick head and looks her in the eyes, “I was sure I’d just remember.”<br/>
Arcee makes a face; he’s almost innocent like a new sparkling, “How did you get into this fight?”<br/>
“I was trying to watch so I could make an accurate record.”<br/>
“Didn’t that seem like a bad idea?”<br/>
“No, I’m the record keeper and everything I see makes history.”</p><p>Smokescreen leans in curiously and levels with the intensity of the captain of the ship, “Came out of your dreams?” He doesn’t remember how they came onto the discussion of the captain’s love life but it’s interesting enough.<br/>
“Yes!” He whispers with a strange grin, “I can’t explain it but it’s been wonderful. She’s been very knowledgeable, helpful, and everything I need.”<br/>
His expression scrunches, “That’s great but...why did you get in a fight in the first place?”<br/>
The captain’s pleasant and excited aura hardens in the same instant he slams his fists on the table, “Because they’re liars!”</p><p>The long frown pins up into a sneer, “I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”<br/>
“Hold on,” Magnus gestures, “just allow me to echo what you’ve told me: this bot came out of an afterlife that wasn’t the AllSpark...and began reading minds. Is that right?”<br/>
The frown talks out of one of the down-turned corners, “Exactly, so why is that hard to understand?”</p><p>“Ghosts are crazy.” The orange guy zones out and Bee waits.<br/>
This has gotten weird. He can’t follow this bot. He just finished explaining that ghosts can eat energon goods but only when they’re in a nebula because the energy between their construct and the external energy balances out the forces that change the goods into a form that they can consume. Then his last tidbit was about how ghosts are well known for quiet when they’re actually loud beings.<br/>
Bumblebee tries a small wave.<br/>
He doesn’t respond.<br/>
He sighs and the orange bot snaps out of it.<br/>
“Ghosts also have an attraction to leadership. I never stood a chance.”<br/>
Bee nearly does a backflip out of his chair. What the actual frag is going on?</p><p>“Back up, back up,” Arcee pats the non-existent wall between them, “Tell me about this bot you mentioned.”<br/>
“Which one? The captain, the head energon keeper, the mechanic...?”<br/>
“The one that’s been with you that you don’t have a record of.”<br/>
He blinks at her and scratches at his large helmet, “I recorded all passengers. If I have no record, then they don’t exist.”<br/>
“But you just said that this bot has been with you and the crew...”<br/>
“What bot?”<br/>
“The one that started the fight?” Arcee fights to keep her cool, “Didn’t you keep a record of who was in the fight?”<br/>
He names the ones currently being interviewed.<br/>
“There was one more. You said there was one other in the brawl.”<br/>
“I did?”</p><p>“Have you been in love, blue one?” The captain rests his head on his large hand.<br/>
After hearing all the poetic and insightful verses from this bot, Smokescreen has been wondering if his affections for Sonica are reciprocated. The captain and his lover have a happy history and fill each other’s metaphorical cups. It has him deeply thinking and he touches his finger tips together, “Actually, I am in love with someone.”<br/>
“Isn’t it great?” A strange wheeze comes from him but Smokescreen can’t tell if he’s laughing or crying. “Aren’t you just so happy?”<br/>
Smokescreen’s deep thoughts have come to a halt as the wheezing continues. He still doesn’t understand what this sound means. “Are you okay?”</p><p>“Alright, let’s forget the past,” Magnus resists sliding a hand down his face plate, “Let me try a different question, why did you get into a fight earlier?”<br/>
“You need to understand that the captain tried to imprison me for no reason. It’s the mind reading thing. So we hid ourselves until we landed. We all had a time or two where he tried to arrest us unjustly. We had to fake our disappearance and ration the energon so they wouldn’t know we were still there.”<br/>
Ultra Magnus suddenly misses the patience and endurance Optimus always had and wishes he was here, “Um...” He tries again carefully, “Well...they know now, don’t they? You came off the same ship they did.”<br/>
“Yes and they were surprised. That’s what started the fight.”</p><p>“How did you get into this fight?” Bee fights the urge to leave in a sprint.<br/>
“The captains should know not to invite ghosts. They’re bad luck.”<br/>
“Captains? As in plural?”<br/>
“Yeah, there were two because they hated each other. They’re both too fond of the ghost.”<br/>
Bee isn’t sure what to believe but he also doesn’t know why he continues asking this nut-case questions, “Did the ghost divide them?”<br/>
“Yes. And she convinced a bunch of them to hide from the rest of the crew. They’re a bunch of idiots.”<br/>
Bumblebee sighs and rests his forehead on the heels of his hand.<br/>
The orange fellow nods slowly and dramatically, “Ghosts are crazy.”</p><p>“Tell me what happened in the fight. Just tell me that. Surely you remember that?” Arcee squeezes the edge of the table.<br/>
“Oh yes, of course I do.” He nods like those bobble-heads Jack liked to laugh at.<br/>
This doesn’t give her hope though, “Great, just tell me then.”<br/>
“The captain and the fake captain got into heated arguments because no one knew that they had hid themselves the entire time. Then this other guy gets involved telling them that the ghost divided them. The coward captain went on about mind reading. The captain disapproved of all their comments and threw the table. Then she punched ghost-believer for getting involved and when captain coward called it justice, the captain punched him and she walked out in a huff while the rest of us tried to sort the mess but then became the mess.”<br/>
Arcee gets a washing wave of relief; the end of this torture is in sight. That sounded legit. “Alright...who’s she?”</p><p>In the large building that’s acting as a hotel and giant lounge area of many long tables, Ultra Magnus and Smokescreen take a seat next to the femme that was described...since that was the only consistent material in all the blabber.<br/>
She’s shorter than Sonica and almost the same slenderness. Her armor is greatly unusual and fans out from her oval plated shoulders and a similar design drapes in front and back of her legs. The other plating covering her protoform follows the oval shapes on her shoulders and overlaps like wrapping.<br/>
When she looks up at them, her light grey eyes read trouble; like they wear a permanent crescent grin in the sheen of her deep optics.<br/>
She sits up tall and sets down the tablet screen she was reading. “Gemshade. What do they call you two?”<br/>
Smokescreen scrutinizes her, something doesn’t feel right. A glance at Magnus tells him he may be thinking the same thing.<br/>
None the less, Ultra Magnus leans forwards on the table, giving her a brief introduction of who they are and looks cool doing it. The movement is almost casual but the space he takes of the table is not.<br/>
She leans back with a raised eyebrow; not even bothering to hide her sass, “Am I in trouble?”<br/>
“We have reason to believe you started a conflict.”<br/>
“Hm? Oh, that typical knuckle knocking? No, wasn’t me.”<br/>
Smokescreen tries a jab, “We talked to your friends and they described you. By those accounts, you had a part to play, in the least.”<br/>
She gives him a merciful smirk, “The losers have been on a ship too long.”<br/>
Magnus doesn't let up, “Can you tell us why there’s no record of you in the ship’s data banks?”<br/>
“Captain really likes me. Asked the record keeper to forget me. He did, in a literal sense.”<br/>
“How long have you two been together?” Smokescreen realizes how off-topic the question is when he catches Magnus’ side glance at him.<br/>
Gemshade notices the exchange, “Depends on who you ask.”<br/>
Now he can’t let the subject go, “What do you mean?”<br/>
“He thinks it’s been a long time, not according to everyone else though. For me, it’s a long, painful length of time.” She fiddles with the screen tablet, “What's the relevance?”<br/>
Magnus looks to Smokescreen; he started this, he’ll finish it and get back on task.<br/>
He catches this and thinks quickly, “Well...he was involved...defending you, so it sounded. We’re just shifting through the information.”<br/>
She laughs, “Is it even worth it?”<br/>
Magnus takes over, “You said the captain asked the record keeper to forget you, why is that?”<br/>
She animates her tone like the captain’s but slower and deeper, “’I already know her and that’s enough’.”<br/>
Smokescreen feels as uncomfortable as someone with a rock in their gears. If it’s not how merciless she is towards the bot who loves her, it’s the way that everything she says feels like a lie.<br/>
“That doesn’t seem likely of him,” Magnus begins again, “the records for the energon are down to the exact decimal. The supply catalogs, repair and supply lists, and the captain’s log are very detailed and precise.”<br/>
Smokescreen’s alertness spikes and his engines rev, there are lies!<br/>
“Then why is the record keeper is so forgetful? What's with the poser who hid himself and a chunk of the crew? Do you believe in ghosts?”<br/>
Slag.<br/>
“Made my case,” Gemshade drums her fingertips on the edge of the screen tablet, “Is it worth it?”<br/>
Her demeanor changes and she leans on the table on her elbows, “You poor hard working bots, type this up as a petty punch-fest and move on. A few crazed survivors aren't worth your time.”<br/>
Smokescreen glances at Ultra Magnus who’s seriously considering her words. They’ve got nothing solid. But Smokescreen gets an idea and executes it.<br/>
“Perhaps you’re right, Gemshade. Forgive us for bothering you,” He moves casually and tries a heavy hint of flirting, “and I’m sorry about the ordeal you’ve had to endure on that ship.”<br/>
“That’s kind of you,” Her confidence bolsters in the way she sits tall.<br/>
“Perhaps we, or just me, could try a more casual setting and start over. What are your thoughts?”<br/>
Gemshade gets a mischievous smile and reciprocates, “My thoughts are in agreement. I make a mean drink mix too, if you’re interested.”<br/>
It worked so well it makes him feel slimy, “I am, actually.”<br/>
He sets up a time to meet her later and they leave. As soon as he knows they’re out of sight and hearing, he shudders.<br/>
Magus pays no mind and gets straight to his point, “What was that about? What are you trying to pull?”<br/>
“Trying to get her guard down, don’t you think she was lying about things?”<br/>
“We have no proof.”<br/>
“I’m following my intuition on this. Something is very wrong concerning her. If I can get her to loosen up, maybe I can get to the bottom of this.”<br/>
“You need evidence, Smokescreen.”<br/>
“And if I’m lucky, there is some. Don’t worry about it.”<br/>
“What about Sonica?”<br/>
Her name stings and leaves a welt, “She’ll be fine...I don’t really help her with anything anyway.”<br/>
He’s thinking about how Megatron was able to think around her contagious despair and shine a light into the darkness. She would speak to Starscream but not him and he wonders if he should’ve done as Starscream suggested. The flyer seems more than confident that he knows and understands her. What frustrates Smokescreen most is these are the two bots whom have caused her the most grief. It’s disgusting.<br/>
Magnus can see all the sorrow in his downcast expression and feels for him, but he has no advice to give.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Gemshade</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sonica and Starscream were put on supply run and had been at it all solar cycle. Off and on, throughout the megacycles, he’d been trying to renew the relationship they had before. This either succeeded in insignificant ways when he didn’t mean to or failed when he gave it his best. She giggled maybe once but that might have been more of a snicker. Either way, it’s not going well.<br/>
Megatron calling her out earlier was impressive, in an awful sort of way. Then he realized that he needed a closer relationship to Sonica to propel him forwards in his ambitions. Megatron’s comment then became a competition... which he’s sure he’s losing in the most pitiful way.<br/>
The flight back was mostly quiet and Knockout said it was alright that Starscream rest with them until he finds his own place; which he wants to make as close to Sonica as he possibly can. If she remains the social figure that she is, there is a lot of potential recruitment.<br/>
But that may be in danger too; she’s quiet. Eerily quiet with very little, if any, of her usual smirking and sassing.<br/>
He can’t take it, “I know you’ve told the Autobots already but I need to ask: are you sure you’re alright? You’re not blowing up my audio receptors with your chatter.”<br/>
“I don’t have anything to ‘chatter’ about.”<br/>
“That’s a lie. You always have something.”<br/>
“You need to stop thinking I’m lying to you. I have no reason to.”<br/>
“Then talk, I know you well enough to know you’re bothered.”<br/>
Sonica growls, “What do you think I’m bothered by? Oh, it must be the weather. Are we getting acid rain again? No wait, it must be the fact that I have to unpack all my belongings since I didn’t go into the AllSpark like my roommate thought I did. No, no, actually, it’s coming back in the most awkward way possible after everyone just grieved you--- or hadn’t completely grieved you and you’re finding out they weren’t doing well in your absence. No, that can’t be it; that’s not worth worrying about because it’s not like you were thinking of suicide down in the Well and fought it off with a vague sense of purpose. Why would I possibly be so quiet, Starscream? Why don’t you tell me? Maybe I’m lying? Or it’s the weather after all.”<br/>
He takes a moment to shove aside all his offense. This is an opportunity to top Megatron: “I think you’re worrying about all the wrong things.”<br/>
Her jet form bends into a loop and she lets out the angriest scream he’s ever heard out of her fragile little body. Then she speeds off and unfortunately, her thrust is a bit more powerful than his when she hits sonic speeds.<br/>
She makes it back home before he does and this is a bad thing. Sonica had enough time to tell Knockout the jist of their conversation so he had two bots yelling at him. Nothing that he couldn’t handle though...<br/>
“I don’t know why you’re lobbing my head about this. I was only trying to help!”<br/>
“By calling her a liar, Starscream?”<br/>
“I don’t need your help.” Sonica throws her hands up and her anger moistens. The sorrow sticks in her voice box and her hands start shaking again. “I don’t know why I’m here and NONE of you can help me with that! If I don’t figure it out, I don’t want to put you through grief again, Knockout, I’m too worried about you...I don’t want anyone to go through that again and I don’t think I could explain why I gave up to Optimus. I feel I’m forced to live a life I don’t want and the last thing I need is a jerk like you, Starscream, to tell me I’m worrying about all the wrong things!”<br/>
Knockout goes to embrace her and she scoots away. Starscream sighs and that lights Knockout’s short fuse. He starts to blame Starscream and he defends. Sonica turns off her audio receptors, fuming as she watches and debates smacking them both.<br/>
In the middle of this, Smokescreen bursts through their front door.<br/>
Sonica turns her audio back on.<br/>
He staggers, looks at Knockout and Starscream and wears a weird half-smile, “Are you all playing a game?”<br/>
“Oh Primus,” Sonica’s already shaky body stands and her anger is hitting the limit, “Are you drunk?”<br/>
“No, I only had one.”<br/>
Starscream frowns, “It doesn’t look like one.”<br/>
Knockout almost tells him off but decides to fire off at Smokescreen, “How about you leave? We’re busy right now. This is the worst time to come over.”<br/>
“I just have to say one thing. Where’s Sonica?”<br/>
It’s quiet like the three of them were struck up the back of the head with something.<br/>
Starscream’s optic twitches, “You just talked to her, you fool!”<br/>
Sonica measures what’s in his system; trying to figure out how much she’s dealing with so she can gauge the force to get him to leave. She sees something she doesn’t expect.<br/>
Scrutinizing him, she speaks slowly, “I’m right here. What do you want?”<br/>
His half smile drops and he’s suddenly angry, “I’m done with you.”<br/>
“What is that supposed to mean?” She backs up as he walks in.<br/>
“I mean, I’ve done a lot for you. I’ve been here for you and I’m a patient guy but you’re ignoring me. I’m done. You can go...frag poky twit or hefty heretic--- I no longer care.”<br/>
Sonica gets an inclination and tries it, “Wait, Smokescreen, I’m sorry you feel that way but that’s not how it is. Starscream and Megatron are work and I don’t want work. You’re the easy I need with a kind, strong spark. Let’s talk about this.”<br/>
His eyes are locked on her and she sees his mind changing gears. She notices his mouth open and close but nothing comes out. Then he blinks quickly a couple times and sorrow re-animates his countenance. Now he actually sees her.<br/>
“Sonica...I’m so sorry. I didn’t...I don’t...I’m sorry. Forget I said any of that. Just forget it. I’ll talk, I mean, we’ll talk...if you want to.” He touches his head and tips backwards. He has to catch his balance but he recovers. When he looks up again, it’s like he just noticed Starscream and Knockout eyeballing him. “Should I come back later?”<br/>
“Yes,” Knockout glares.<br/>
“No,” Sonica takes his arm and brings him to the couch to sit. Her interest is piqued and for the first time since she returned, she feels close to something worth while. “I’m going to look over your systems.”<br/>
She sees what she suspected in his neuro-net and it quickly fades away; only a few specks are left before it vanishes. After her eyes return to normal sight, she sets a hand over Smokescreen’s.<br/>
Knockout interrupts, “What is it?”<br/>
“I’m about to find out, hold on.”<br/>
“All this over getting drunk?” Starscream crosses his arms.<br/>
Sonica shakes her head but she’s to anxious to be annoyed with him, “No, no, whatever he drank had silver energon in it.”<br/>
Their optics widen and Sonica stares into Smokescreen’s fearful gaze, “Who gave you that drink?”</p><p> </p><p>“This may not go well.” Sonica tells Ultra Magnus and all the Autobots plus Starscream as they walk to the makeshift hotel where all the returned survivors are settled during breaks.<br/>
They walk because this is her chance to brief them.<br/>
Megatron isn’t with them as he’s with Knockout in the tower, looking over maps for energon deposits; just in case any of the ones Sonica has started to culminate are ready to be mined. He wants to finish his teaching and take off as soon as possible. He’s talked about the next solar cycle being his last. Sonica isn’t sure how she feels about this.<br/>
“So, what happened exactly?” Bumblebee gestures.<br/>
“Someone here has silver energon or knows how to make it and put it in a drink to influence other’s minds.” She stares straight ahead, her footsteps gaining momentum and strengthening her resolve to be online.<br/>
“Silver energon can do that?” Arcee’s tone matches the face she makes.<br/>
“Once you master it, yes.”<br/>
Smokescreen’s fists clench, “I knew something was wrong with that femme.”<br/>
“So we’re your backup, is that right?” Bulkhead transforms his fist to his wrecking ball.<br/>
“Just in case she’s influenced other bots' minds. I’ll handle her myself.”<br/>
“Wait,” Arcee comes up to Sonica’s side, “can influenced bots seem...”<br/>
“Crazy?”<br/>
“Stupid?”<br/>
Arcee and Bee look at each other.<br/>
Sonica smiles, “Oh yeah. Their emotions are real but their thoughts are swayed and thus steer their emotions and actions. This way, the bots are sure it’s their own agency but don’t understand why they acted on it. The confusion blurs the lines and after a long period of time, their personalities completely change and you don’t recognize them anymore.”<br/>
Smokescreen shudders.<br/>
Ultra Magnus’ hands clench, “We arrest her, don’t harm her until we’ve interrogated her.”<br/>
“Understood,” They state in unison.</p><p>Sonica approaches Gemshade alone. The others spread out in the perimeter of the lounge area. More bots than scheduled are here taking a break. Sonica suspects that’s Gemshade’s doing.<br/>
“Hey.” She nods as she sits down.<br/>
Gemshade’s eyes are hardened and walled up, “What.”<br/>
“Did you meet with Smokescreen a few megacycles ago?”<br/>
“Per invite, yes.”<br/>
“Did you have a good time?”<br/>
Gemshade raises a brow, “Are you the love interest?”<br/>
“It’s complicated. How would you know something like that?”<br/>
Her chuckle is low and deep, “He said the same thing.”<br/>
“After you gave him your drink or afterwards?”<br/>
Her guard grows a weapon, sharpening her gaze, “You’re interrogating me?”<br/>
Sonica matches her posture and stare, “I’m just protecting those I care about.”<br/>
“From who? Am I competition after one drink?” She laughs and turns a few heads.<br/>
Sonica senses their alertness and does a quick once over in her peripheral for her backup. Her mind dashes through her options: does she break face now or keep playing? She tests her luck, “I’m wondering about the drink because he acted very strange and he said he’d only had one.”<br/>
“My mix isn’t for lightweights.”<br/>
“Because of the silver energon, right?”<br/>
Gemshade goes still and a few heads in the room turn rigidly towards her.<br/>
She leans in, “Let’s talk, dear sister.”<br/>
A ways behind them, a table flips and angers several other shipmates. The Autobots spring into action. Sonica doesn’t take her eyes off of Gemshade. The femme tries to throw her energon in her face but Sonica pulls it into needle barely sticking out of her wrist. Already, Gemshade is darting across the way towards the door; phase-shifting through a couple airborne objects. Sonica runs after her and dodges the flying bot bodies and swats cups with a bat of orange energon. Then she notices her friends aren’t guarding the doors; their hands are full with other crew members that weren’t involved before. Gemshade runs for the door; curious. She has an ability to transport herself out of here but isn’t using it...<br/>
How does Sonica know this?<br/>
Doesn’t matter right now.<br/>
Gemshade phase-shifts through a falling table and Sonica leaps over it. Then the strange femme whips around and changes her hands for transparent swords. Sonica barely dodges those before having to phase through Bumblebee who tumbles over the rubble back to his feet and into the fight.<br/>
Sonica stopped just long enough. Gemshade is but four strides from one of the doors. Sonica prepares her sight and starts to go after her when Megatron steps into the doorway.<br/>
He sees Sonica first, then the fleeing femme that’s about to run into him. He grabs her arm in one swift motion.<br/>
Gemshade hits the end length of her captor’s limb and falls flat on her back. She turns and twists trying to kick his grip off then trying her swords. Megatron almost looks bored. She’s fights with all her strength and she proves difficult to hold onto. He adjusts his grip and holds her in an arm lock in front of him.<br/>
Sonica jogs to a slow stop at the doorway and ducks just as another glass zings over her and shatters against a wall.<br/>
Looking in behind Sonica, some other bots are breaking free and heading for the door they stand at. Megatron ignores the clear blade digging at a small part of his armor and steps in. He ushers Sonica safely behind him then fires at a chair soaring towards him. The ion fire makes everyone stop and the only sounds are the pieces clattering to the floor and a few bots scrambling onto their feet.<br/>
The bots that were charging him have come to a dead halt and fear sobers them from whatever rage they felt.<br/>
Gemshade gasps then tilts her head up to look at him, “What the frag are you?”<br/>
Sonica grins; the silver energon’s spell is gone. A deeper, embedded emotion replaced it. Their fear of the Dark Warlord Megatron, former leader of the Decepticons, has freed them from her influence.<br/>
“What’s going on here?” He bellows.<br/>
Sonica comes back around, her hands on her hips, “Just a little mischief caused by this femme here who has silver energon for blood.”<br/>
Gemshade’s optics search her body’s reports; she’s not wounded, no one can tell. “No. Look, sorry for the trouble. Release me and I’ll leave the planet for good.”<br/>
“Something about you is familiar,” Sonica tilts her head then reaches towards her.<br/>
Gemshade tries vainly to thrash her way out and curses them.<br/>
Her hand rests on her shoulder. Sonica’s mind is thrown into a vision like a dream but more physical, further away, and SinStorm stares down the way with an evil glare. When the vision ends, a residue of a memory is left behind.<br/>
She withdraws in amazement, “Holy Primus...”<br/>
The Autobots begin arresting some of the more aggressive bots and Ultra Magnus begins ordering them back to work. Megatron is the only one who sees her expression.<br/>
Sonica rubs at her forehead, “My past lives keep coming up.”<br/>
He raises a brow, “Which one is this one from?”<br/>
“SinStorm.”<br/>
Gemshade’s eyes widen like she’s possessed; her optics are glazed with fear and an ancient wrath, “Doradus?”<br/>
“The current one, yes. I’m Sonica.” There’s an awkward pause and she tries a smile, “How’s planet Chrysalis?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Wish Granter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>At the wrists and ankles, Gemshade wears cuffs fueled with silver energon, so when she has recharged her phase-shifting abilities, she can’t escape. She sits in a room up in a tower with all the Autobot leaders plus two scary ones. The rest of the bots are making sure the others are working.<br/>Of course, Ultra Magnus had to explain to them that they need not fear Megatron and he even disclosed part of his journey with Sonica.<br/>That part was a little awkward and it was worse when they glanced at each other.<br/>Despite Ultra Magnus’ efforts and plain and simple explanations, no body was comfortable with this. There was that problem plus what they were going to do with Gemshade.<br/>“Chrysalis is almost another dimension from here,” Sonica paces between Knockout and Megatron, the ends of the group; Starscream, Ultra Magnus, and their little criminal make up the sides.<br/>Starscream is present by pure pacifism; he insisted. They also found out he almost killed someone during the free-for-all. There wasn’t a choice after that and it added another complication to the meeting.<br/>“I am curious how she got all the way here.” She sets her hands on her hips and looks down at Gemshade sitting on the floor. “Are you a flyer?”<br/>She glares back without a word.<br/>Starscream is almost satisfied, “I think she hates you.”<br/>Sonica gives him a look, “I can’t say I blame her either.”<br/>“Got that right, Doradus.”<br/>“Hey, that was more than hundreds of ages ago and it wasn’t me." She changes topics out of curiosity, "Your kind are sweet, forgiving bots...is that why you were banished? Are you a pain in the aft or something?”<br/>Gemshade looks down, her angered expression stubbornly remains.<br/>“How do you know she’s banished?” Starscream has to ask.<br/>“Because she’s here, duh.” She gets her giggle out of his frown and answers truly, “I mean, her kind doesn’t leave the planet unless one has done something worth banishment which would also explain why I didn’t detect her right away.”<br/>That didn’t make sense. <br/>Megatron looks up from Gemshade to Sonica, “You are aware that we don’t know everything you know, correct?”<br/>“Yes,” She looks down at their prisoner, “I’m just not sure if I should tell you, or if she would like to tell you.”<br/>She glares up at her, “Go ahead--- let's hear how far from the truth it really is.”<br/>Sonica shrugs, “SinStorm fueled a protoform with silver energon and created the first of the silver-bloods. She found a planet and they gradually populated it. They were supposed to be an army to hunt and destroy Unicron. However, the silver-bloods turned out more virtuous than she wanted them to be. They fought SinStorm and became her downfall; destroyed by her own creations. The silver-bloods locked themselves away, renaming the planet to Chrysalis, so that when the universe was ready, they could join it without being feared.”<br/>Gemshade’s gaze doesn’t leave Sonica and doesn’t give any clues to what she’s thinking.<br/>“Why would they be feared?” Knockout breaks the pause in the room.<br/>Sonica slowly turns to face him, “When their silver-blood isn’t neutralized, like hers is, they can phase-shift through everything save silver energon itself, they communicate with everyone on their planet no matter the distance, and scariest of all, they can act as a ground bridge...changing scenery with a single step. They call it ‘whole-stride’. If they’re practiced, they can do one, single, short distance space bridge leap, or maximum whole-stride.”<br/>“Neutralized? I thought silver didn’t have any weakness, save its user.” Megatron comments.<br/>Sonica gets a warning glare from their prisoner, “Well, no one is supposed to know except the Phantom but I can tell you that there’s a barrier that encloses the entire planet, that contains the means of this; thus preventing any silver-bloods from leaving without consequence. Banishment is worse than going offline.”<br/>She shifts her weight to one leg, “So, I imagined you flew before you ran into the ship of Cybertronian survivors. But I really want to know: what did you do?”<br/>Gemshade looks away before an idea pops into her head, “Not that easy to explain. 'You really want to know? Visit the silver-bloods, then what I tell you will make sense.”<br/>Starscream chuckles, “And next, you’ll propose that Doradus restore your silver-blood abilities, trusting you to take us there?”<br/>The poorly hidden surprise on her face says he’s right. Starscream basks in it.<br/>“Yeah, not happening. Valiant try though,” Sonica rubs it in before turning to Ultra Magnus, “None the less, I feel the need to visit anyway.”<br/>“You’re asking to leave?”<br/>“Maybe this is why Primus sent me back out again. Either way, I feel without purpose here. I should go,” She pauses, “And, if they want to,” she looks to Starscream and Megatron, “I’ll take them with me.”<br/>Knockout hangs his head. As much as he’d like her to stay, he can’t deny her sudden revival in this event. Sonica seems to have instantly healed discovering this. He’d rather that than for her to fade away at home.<br/>Ultra Magnus lets out a huff of air, “That would solve all the present conflicts...”<br/>Megatron takes a small step, “Save the energon culmination.”<br/>“That,” She points at him, “is already taken care of. All those mines I emptied back on earth...” she pats her midriff, “I still have it and if rationed wisely, it’ll last until all the energon I’ve started is ready.”<br/>Knockout stands as tall as he can, “All that’s left is finding Chrysalis and space bridging you there.”<br/>Sonica looks at him, her brow concerned but touched with a slight smile, “Not without means of communicating back to you guys. If all goes well sooner than anticipated, I’d like to come back.”<br/>He smiles humbly and relaxes just a little, “I like that idea.”<br/>Ratchet visited to help for a couple “minutes”, as he put it, and his spark nearly left his body when he saw Sonica. After a long and emotional hug, he gave them blue prints to the communicators he made with Sonica and soon after, left with another embrace.<br/>She gets full enjoyment waving the blue prints in Megatron’s face, “I used devices just like this to tell the Autobots what you were up to that time ago. You never knew. My last secret due.”<br/>Megatron makes a condescending, tilted smile but Starscream gapes with an exclamation. Everyone stared at him.<br/>“Scremlin, you’re the only one who cares anymore. Take it easy before you blow something.”<br/>He pouts and frowns at their backs as the group makes four of them, the extra two are in case something happens to the ones between Sonica’s “crew” and Ultra Magnus’. Knockout keeps the extra one which Sonica gives him herself. <br/>When his hand goes to take it, she covers it with her own. In that exchange, Knockout promises he’ll be fine with a confident nod and she assures that she believes it with a soft smile and a squeeze to his hand. No words necessary.<br/>“I don’t think we’ll need a ship,” Sonica thinks aloud to Magnus’ inquiry of transportation, “I remember the general area and it won’t be hard to detect so I can assure we will find it. It just has a weird orbit around two suns... it's just hard to deduce where, in that orbit, it is.”<br/>Almost in unison, they pivot on their heels to stare at Gemshade. Though she glances over them, her gaze remains angry.<br/>“You’re crazier than my shipmate that believes in ghosts.”<br/>Sonica stands in front of her, “Explain to me what got you banished. If you’re sure you did nothing wrong, perhaps my visit to Chrysalis will prove it.”<br/>“Banished was the best that ever happened to me. I am NOT going back.”<br/>Starscream taps his chin as an idea formulates in his head. He turns to Sonica, “Shall we put her away then; while you search the surrounding space of the coordinates you remember?”<br/>She sighs, “We may have to.”<br/>Sonica stares down her faceplate to Gemshade, “We’re going no matter what.”</p><p> </p><p>Gemshade is put in a temporary “cell” which is sort of an equivalent to a vacuum closet with a lockable door. Smokescreen was careful not to let Starscream see the key code.<br/>“I don’t see why you don’t trust me. Haven’t I been helpful?”<br/>“You almost terminated someone today, or did you forget?”<br/>He pretends to frown, “Actually, I did forget. Accidents happen, you know. It’s in the past...forgive and forget...blah, blah, blah and other Autobot nobility nonsense.”<br/>“I don’t see what Sonica sees in you. If it were up to me, you’d be shoved in a closet too.”<br/>“There’s no point to it now, Smokescreen, I won’t be on this lump of scrap for much longer.”<br/>Unexpectedly, he’s yanked forwards and Smokescreen’s snarling face is up close and personal, “Speaking of which, if you ever hurt her in any way...I mean in ANY way...well...‘Accidents happen...blah, blah, blah and other Autobot nobility nonsense’.”<br/>He shoves him away and Starscream brushes his plating as Smokescreen storms off. Starscream follows him a ways behind, back to the room where the Autobots are gathered.<br/>Some of them are there to wish Sonica a safe journey. They hug her and joke with her and even stone-cold Arcee looks moved that she’s leaving with a renewed sense of purpose. A couple bots shake hands with Megatron and Bumblebee gives him a respectful nod from across the room. That exchange was the weirdest.<br/>But none of them say farewell to him. They don’t shake hands or wish him a safe journey. That’s just fine for him; it makes things easier.<br/>He walks over to Knockout just to tell him he wants to take a break before they head out. The red doctor nods with a smile and lets him go. But he stops him just before he leaves the room.<br/>“I have another assignment I need to start in a solar cycle so in case I don’t get the chance: safe journey, Starscream.”<br/>That went right through him and he nods quickly to cover it up. He mutters a thank you that Knockout didn’t hear and he walks out. For a moment, he considers actually going to Knockout and Sonica’s apartment.<br/>The feeling doesn’t last too long and it’s easily tossed aside. He turns a corner the opposite direction and traces back to the closet Gemshade is in.<br/>It takes him a while to fiddle with the wires to cause the door to unlock. Once it’s open, he pulls them out slightly and keeps the door in place.<br/>Gemshade glares up at him from under her brow where she leans against the wall, her arms resting on her knees. For a split nanoklik, she looks a little like Sonica. But knowing she doesn’t have as nearly as perfect of a mask as Sonica does, he crouches to her level with a grin.<br/>“I don’t believe we’ve had a proper introduction.”<br/>“Not necessary.”<br/>“It is if you want any control over your future in the next few solar cycles or so.”<br/>“I will judge that.” She twists her wrists in the cuffs and leans forwards, “What do they call you, stranger?”<br/>“Starscream.”<br/>“Your offer?”<br/>“A life-changing opportunity, if you hate your planet as much as you seem to...”<br/>She lifts an intrigued brow, “Loathe it. You underestimate me.”<br/>A small chuckle escapes, “That does simplify things. You see, I’m sort of a wish granter, only for those with the spark and desire to make them reality. All you need to do, is tell me your greatest wish and I can find a way to make it happen.”<br/>“I have three.”<br/>“You’re an ambitious one.”<br/>“Could say the same to you, Starscream.” Her optics scan his whole figure.<br/>He smirks, “What are your wishes? Maybe I can grant more than one?”<br/>Gemshade’s eyes challenge him, “My powers back. My planet’s government overthrown. And freedom to do whatever the slag I want.”<br/>Starscream’s grin stretches across his faceplate, “You’re in luck, dear Gemshade, I’m feeling quite generous and will grant all your wishes. All I ask in return, is a little work before you leave to do whatever the slag you want.”<br/>She twists her hands in her cuffs again, “I would shake your hand, but...”<br/>“Patience, my dear, and your wishes are my command.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Fares</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sonica stands between Starscream and Megatron holding cuffed Gemshade’s arm, outside a small ship. It’s bigger than Wheeljack’s Jackhammer and will comfortably fit four bots. It’s not for intergalatic space travel, but between Cybertron’s space bridge and the coordinates Sonica provided, it should be enough. A few workers passing by are watching and looking relieved and excited that the criminals are leaving.<br/>
Sonica brushes her hands together, “Energon storage is overloaded, space bridge is fueled, I’ve said goodbye to everyone...am I missing anything?”<br/>
Ultra Magnus smiles, “I don’t think so. You’ve taken very good care of us.” He’s also thinking about the gifts she left in their homes.<br/>
Right now, it’s just him and Smokescreen. Knockout had to tend to something else and that makes Sonica proud. She knows he’ll be fine and recalls four megacycles ago when she decided to bring it up.<br/>
He waved a hand, embarrassed, “I know it was bad but it wasn’t that bad. I wasn’t going to take a flying leap and join you or anything.”<br/>
Sonica laughed, “Good, but I also want you to smile. If you don’t, I’ll know. Smokescreen will be watching you for me.”<br/>
“Speaking of whom, are you going to talk to him?”<br/>
“I don’t have anything to say,” She had looked down at her wringing fingers, “I like him a lot...and I also like Megatron’s and I’s relationship, if I knew what to call it...and I still miss what I had with Starscream at times. Until I figure out what I want, I’m not ready to say anything yet.”<br/>
“Still, it would be polite to tell him where your at, even if it’s limbo.” He smiled, “Sucks to be you.”<br/>
“Thank you.”<br/>
Sonica walks up and hugs Smokescreen one more time, taking the opportunity to whisper next to his audio receptor, “I have close relationships that have potential to be more. I hope this journey will help me figure out what I want. I’ll return and let you know.”<br/>
His hug tightens, “Thank you.”<br/>
When they let go, Ultra Magnus lifts a hand and hovers it over Sonica’s head, “With the authority I hold, I make Sonica Doradus captain of this vessel. Be sure you three follow her lead and support her in the duration of your time together.”<br/>
Megatron nods respectfully and Starscream follows suit. They make Gemshade do the same and she grumbles at them.<br/>
After that, they finally board. Megatron and Starscream fire up the engines. It takes a lot less time for it to warm up than a ship the size of the Nemesis. When the landing gear is coiled back into the belly, the space bridge activates.<br/>
The bots below, friends and strangers, wave goodbye as it glides through the space bridge. Sonica watches and her spark aches. The communicator on her hip beeps and she answers. Knockout smiles at her.<br/>
“I see you through the Grid. I’ll talk to you again soon, Sonica.”<br/>
She wants to hug him, “Again, and soon, my dear friend.”<br/>
He blows a kiss and ends the connection. It makes her laugh.<br/>
Turning back to their forward window, she stands behind a curved desk of controls behind the ones Megatron and Starscream stand at. They guide the vessel all the way through the space bridge and Sonica watches the rear-view camera feed to watch it close behind them.<br/>
She misses everyone and a deep sigh barely alleviates it.<br/>
“Captain,” Megatron turns to her and she looks up, “Where next?”<br/>
They are in a space littered with stars...and nothing else save one large star half the size as earth’s sun.<br/>
Her brow furrows and she instantly feels fired from her position as captain. “We should see two suns near each other, right in front of us.”<br/>
Gemshade laughs from her spot against the wall. The magnetic pull on her cuffs keeps her there.<br/>
Sonica slumps and strides down to stand in front of her. “What’s so funny, Gemshade? Do you think I’m lost?”<br/>
“I know you’re lost. Chrysalis hasn't been here since Sekin went supernova.”<br/>
Sekin is the second, smaller sun, Sonica recalls. “What season was it when that happened?”<br/>
Gemshade lifts a brow, “Deaf, didn’t you hear me say I don't want to go back?”<br/>
Sonica shrugs, “Well, here are your options, Gemshade: you tell me and I’ll consider releasing you on good behavior, or, and please don’t make me do this--- I fuel on silver and tap into your mind. Now, I don’t know your age but I can guarantee that I’m far more practiced than you are.”<br/>
“Than me... who lived on a planet where everyone can ‘tap’ your mind? How much exactly, Doradus? I’m sure it wasn’t daily like mine. We defeated SinStorm, I could defeat you.”<br/>
“Even with your silver reserves muted?”<br/>
That stumps her and a steeled glare is her only response.<br/>
Starscream folds his arms, “This seems a bit familiar.”<br/>
Megatron only scrutinizes the exchange.<br/>
She whirls around, “I was a lot kinder than this to Megatron.”<br/>
“Of course you were,” he shrugs with his hands, “with your own motives, you were able to follow every rule, and respect all former authority without a single hint of stubbornness.”<br/>
Sonica frowns with a side stare, “You make an irritating point.”<br/>
After a deep breath, she tries again, “How about this then, you lead us to the planet, help us settle in--- since obviously things have changed since SinStorm--- and when we’re in the clear, I’ll let you go.”<br/>
“With my full powers?”<br/>
“At this point, that’s very debatable.”<br/>
Gemshade turns away so she can peek at Starscream a ways behind Sonica. He glances at the other two before locking optics with her and nodding.<br/>
“Fine,” She caves, now that she knows where all her are options are, “only if I can someday soon be free of you, Doradus.”<br/>
“It’s Sonica.” She sets her hands on her hips, “And I don’t completely justify your anger at me. I am NOT SinStorm.”<br/>
The atmosphere goes still and stales.<br/>
“Let’s try one more time,” She leans towards their prisoner, “Where is Chrysalis?”<br/>
“Allow me to type in the coordinates.”<br/>
Sonica steps back, eyeing her. The mechs behind her exchange glances. Finally, she shrugs and undoes the cuffs from the wall.<br/>
Gemshade twists her wrists in the cuffs, “I could type better without these.”<br/>
“You’ll manage just fine.” Sonica takes her arm and pulls her to the spot at the captain’s section of the bridge.<br/>
Gemshade sees the console and freezes. She’s felt this perpetual reluctance since she learned who Doradus is but now that she stands here, it rises from the ashes with a vengeance. Mere numbers are all that stand between her and the ball of waste she used to call home.<br/>
Starscream was supposed to be a way out of this. She banked on the hope that it would just be the two of them and then she could see how capable he was before taking off. The fool seems to have a thing for Doradus that she didn’t notice before.<br/>
Her choices with Doradus aren’t any better and her bluffs are stacking up. She needs to make a more convincing move before they get wise. All her plays have lead to this and it’s the last thing she wants to do; death is higher on her list than this.<br/>
Doradus notices, “Are you alright? Your hands are shaking.”<br/>
Gemshade turns them over in front of her; it’s true. She clenches them to make them still. Embarrassment heats her anger, “Told you, I don’t want to go back.”<br/>
Doradus’ expression is soft and concerned, “Will you tell us why?”<br/>
If she tells them, she’ll start crying. She turns away, “You type them in. I can’t do it.”<br/>
Sonica cautiously complies and exchanges glances with the others. They’re just as uncertain but they do get the coordinates. Gemshade then walks heavily back to her spot against the wall, letting the electromagnet lock her in place.<br/>
They watch and Sonica's brow furrows. “All that’s left to do is update our knowledge on the planet. When we get there, we’ll start with a probe. Then, if Gemshade is up for it, we’ll get other details from her.”<br/>
She sits down and starts typing away at things, “Megatron, please direct us to our course, I’m going to begin a shared log about what I know of Chrysalis.”<br/>
“Yes captain.”<br/>
“Egh, just Sonica. I don’t care for titles.”<br/>
Starscream is the only one that has a problem with her comment but he keeps it to himself. He has got to work on his relationship with her. At the same time, he needs to strengthen Gemshade’s trust in him. After he studies the log, he may just have an idea.<br/>
Solar cycles pass by as they travel there.<br/>
A thought is plaguing Megatron. When he finishes his screen checks, he takes the opportunity to walk over and ask.<br/>
“Captain Sonica,” He keeps his voice low after glancing at Gemshade still slouched against the wall.<br/>
“No title.” She looks up from her typing that she’s been at for solar cycles, the log of what she remembers of the silver-bloods. “I barely like the name Doradus.”<br/>
“Sorry to interrupt...”<br/>
She waves, “I’m not getting very far anyway.  Without SinStorm in my head, I barely recall a blasted thing.”<br/>
He nods.<br/>
“What’s up?”<br/>
“I’m just overly curious to why you don’t just burn silver and detect the planet that way.”<br/>
Sonica smiles at him, “Just to give her some control of her life, I guess. I also want to give her a chance to do better.”<br/>
Megatron is impressed and tries not to look it. Then another matter comes to mind, “She’s up to something.”<br/>
“Oh do I know it,” She turns back to her log with a smirk, “but between you and I...and hopefully Starscream...we should be good. Thanks for watching my back, Megs.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s Sonica in a nutshell.” Starscream finishes telling Gemshade about the current Doradus’ personality.<br/>
Crammed inside her small quarters and still cuffed, she raises a brow at him. He gave quite a few details like her favorite drink mix and her major pet peeve along with what he claims is her bad taste in humor.<br/>
If Gemshade felt like she could be honest, she would say this Doradus seems like a total dipstick. What makes her think she’s so great that she can prance around like she does? Another question is, how are sly bots like Starscream attracted to that in any way?<br/>
“You two must be happy. Why am I told this?”<br/>
He balks, “We’re not a couple.”<br/>
She doesn’t miss the slight somberness in his expression though.<br/>
“And I’m telling you this because it’s the quickest way out of your bonds.”<br/>
Gemshade lifts a brow, “Some wish granter.”<br/>
“I did say you would have you work a little. If I do all the lifting, it’s not going to work.”<br/>
She looks elsewhere with a jerk of her head.<br/>
Starscream growls, “What? Are you backing out now?”<br/>
“Seriously considering it.” Her optics watch him from a side stare, “Overthrow the government on Chrysalis without me. I’m not sure if I want my powers or if I want my freedom.” She rolls her eyes, “Why tell you this? Just get me out of here. I’d rather my chances out in space.”<br/>
His mouth seems stuck in an “o” shape as he scrutinizes her for a painfully long moment, “If you hate your home that much, why do you care about what the government system is?”<br/>
“I have better friends than you,” She deadpans and looks away again, “To clarify, you asked about ‘wishes’ not ‘to-do list’.”<br/>
Starscream kicks himself for that one and leans deeper against the wall his shoulder touches, “Fine. I can see what I can do if you tell me all about your planet. What has you so stubbornly reluctant to return?”<br/>
Gemshade feels a shudder of fear and it rattles her irritation, “Ever felt like utter slag, Starscream? Have you, even a moment, where you looked at your own hands and despised them and your very existence? I haven't, since I left that slag mass.”<br/>
He thinks about this and something clicks, “Is that why you want the government overthrown? Are you all slaves or something?”<br/>
The fall of her face answers before her voice does, “Or something...”</p><p>Starscream sets a hand over the screen Sonica uses to fill in her very small log; ignoring Megatron at the consoles below. “Don’t bother. I know almost everything.”<br/>
Her expression slouches down to her chin, “Do you now?”<br/>
“It’s a theocracy, of sorts. One has to be what’s called a Sade to be an advisor for the royal, voted into office as the Phantom.”<br/>
“I knew about the Phantom,”<br/>
His smugness splits into a grin, “Did you also know about their overbearing and micromanaging virtues and laws? There’s a law that, if one laughs too loudly, he gets punished for it.”<br/>
Sonica hangs her head, “Alright, I know you’re waiting for me to ask: how do you know this?”<br/>
Starscream barely contains his excitement and tries to look comfortable partially leaning on the console and resting his elbow on a button-free spot. “I suppose that, along with my talent of adaptation, I have a certain working charm.”<br/>
Sonica’s forced smile smears, “Another word for your certain charm is ‘manipulation’.”<br/>
His brow turns up in the middle and he sets his other hand over his spark, “Aw, I’m wounded that that’s all you think I do. Contrary to your poor outlook on my character, I do try to make things fair.”<br/>
“What are you getting out of it then?”<br/>
Starscream glances over her figure and tries a gentle finger along her jaw, “I’m actually trying to grant some wishes for her. I think you’ve had quite the influence on me...” He leans in close, “my dear Sonica.”<br/>
She gives him her sweetest smile before her optics reveal her being wise to his attempt, “Well done then. Thankfully, we’ll be on Chrysalis within the next solar cycle and you can put your knowledge to good use.” She gets up and looks over some controls.<br/>
A small chuckle rolls out of him and he straightens, “I appreciate your faith but there was only so much I could get.” He steps closer as he looks over her back and strokes it with his fingers and a little static, “I may know enough about the government system but I couldn’t get city names to explore or rural areas that would hide our little vessel. I suggest a tour guide.”<br/>
Sonica’s spark jumps in her chest and she moves carefully, “I don’t think we’re going to get one out of Gemshade unless you have uncanny persuasion tucked in all that charm.”<br/>
“I’d be more than willing to try, if you don’t mind my asking for your help.”<br/>
“What do you need help with?”<br/>
He perks up, half pretended, “So you’ll do it?”<br/>
“Do what?”<br/>
“Oh don’t get my hopes up, Sonica, just tell me if you’re going to do it or not.”<br/>
She sets a hand on her hip, “Starscream.”<br/>
He shrugs with a roll of his wrists, “I need a little more confidence from Gemshade and I think a rank would assist that.”<br/>
Megatron scoffs and turns back to the screens. Sonica glances at him but Starscream waits patiently with a shy, pleading look and adds:<br/>
“For the sake of the mission.”<br/>
In a way, it’s working on her. But she’s able to set it aside and think about it logically. He has a point; whatever he’s working on Gemshade could go further if he’s in a position to pull strings among the whole four of them. He could have easily played the part and lied about it but he didn't. Of course, if that’s not him being nice, it’s a tactic he’s using. But it's a good one as long as she can keep track of it.<br/>
“Will you keep me informed if I do this?”<br/>
His eyes widen and his smile slips a little; he didn’t think this would work. Megatron whirls around and looks up at her.<br/>
Vigorously, Starscream nods, “Yes, yes!”<br/>
“And concerning major decisions, you will consult with either me or Megatron?”<br/>
That confused him, “Why?”<br/>
“Silver-bloods are extremely powerful. We cannot screw this up and two heads are better than one. Do you get me?”<br/>
He deflates a little, “Yes, captain.”<br/>
"Good boy," She moves on and claps her hands once, “Alright, two leaders, two workers...feels we’re all balanced out now. Let’s have fun with this.”<br/>
Megatron shakes his head, to himself, but Sonica notices and smiles.<br/>
“Let’s get Gemshade out here and see if she’ll produce a map. Go work your mind-wiping, first lieutenant.”<br/>
He gives her a look as he walks out. Megatron snickers but only Sonica heard it. She turns her head, grinning, and he looks up at her with a simple lip smile. His eyes don’t leave her until he faces the screens again and she goes back to her log with a permanent smile.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Silver Blood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gemshade looks to Starscream for whatever small amount of assurance she can get. It seems like a blur of stupidity preceding her arrival back on her former home.<br/>
She remembers clearly, how Starscream came to her shortly after their long conversation, to brag about his new rank. She didn’t believe it until he brought her out to their little bridge, and Doradus herself called him first lieutenant. But that was before he took her out, that he made sure to tell her, with up-most intensity, that he is now in position to take on a corrupt government.<br/>
That convinced her. This goon is going for it. He wasn’t posturing after all. She figures, if he fails, she’ll know what’s possible and what’s not...and whether it is as hopeless as she fears.<br/>
After that, she had little problems drawing up a map for them and now they’ve landed. This hurts in so many ways but...not as much as she first thought.<br/>
“Alright, my lovelies,” Sonica winks at them, “Our mission contains three phases: one, gather intel; two, meet and greets; three, fellowship and peace.”<br/>
Megatron’s mouth crinkles at it, “That’s really your plan? Do you know what you’re doing here?”<br/>
She leans back and laughs, “Frag no and I wish I did. Don’t sneer at my amateur plans. It’s my slaggin’ best. Be nice, for Primus’ sake.”<br/>
“Your phase three is ‘fellowship and peace’...with some of the most powerful Transformers in existence...” He raises a brow over his deadpan stare.<br/>
Sonica fidgets on her feet, “Well...it is an outline.”<br/>
Starscream cackles, “She tells me we have no room for error and she makes up a mission ‘outline’.”<br/>
Gemshade laughs too and it interrupts their conversation. It’s unexpected because it doesn’t fit her appearance. She acts like a walking knife but if bells could knock, that would be almost exactly what it sounds like when she finds things funny.<br/>
She stops as quickly as she started; glancing at the three of them.<br/>
Sonica shifts to one leg and tilts her head, “Glad she’s on our side.”<br/>
Gemshade glares darkly.<br/>
Megatron sort of swings his body back to the holographic map. He’s not leader but he feels just as responsible as one. “Though I agree with your phase one, that should be the main focus for now. Until you know what your purpose for coming here is...”<br/>
“Wait, wait, wait,” Gemshade puts her cuffed hands in the air, “You three flew all the way out here, dragging aft, for no reason?”<br/>
“It’s a long story that I don’t have time to tell. But there’s a reason for me being here and running into you. I’m as connected to this place as you are and I want to know why now? And, what’s going on?”<br/>
“Had I known, I could’ve said before.”<br/>
“Then tell me n-”<br/>
“We're a thousand from extinction.”<br/>
The silence rings with her pain and the doom echoes between the words. There’s nothing to say for a small eternity.<br/>
Sonica feels the sorrow in Gemshade’s words and an anger starts to bloom from it. “Why?” Her gaze gradually hardens, “Why are they dying?”<br/>
Gemshade’s eyes fall shut and her head slightly tilts back, then she shakes it softly. Her lips curl in and her head falls forwards. “Duh, too powerful to exist. Better we fade without a fuss. All would be safer and better off.”<br/>
Sonica is about to ask where this came from and Gemshade answers just as she opens her mouth.<br/>
“Those cursed signal towers...the towers that were supposed to tell us the universe was open...we hear about wars. Worse yet, gossip about our ancestral home, Cybertron, dead under ages of war.” Gemshade lowers to the ground and plops to the floor, “People divided between staying out of it and trying to stop it. The Phantom said nothing... let the people fight. The majority won...and we’ve hated ourselves ever since.”<br/>
Sonica kneels beside her and sets a hand on her shoulder, “What do you want for your kin, Gemshade?”<br/>
“Does it matter? The Phantom was supposed to make that decision. I wonder if we have a Phantom at all. The Sade run everything.”<br/>
Sonica thinks for a long, dark moment before she stands with an eerie grace. “Then...I suppose that decision lies with me. Though SinStorm created your race, I carry the same second name.”<br/>
Gemshade looks up, angered and surprised, “Then start with me. I don’t want to watch you annihilate my kin. Take me first, as punishment for bringing you here.”<br/>
“Shut up,” Sonica’s tone is shockingly harsh, “I will decide what happens. For now, I need you online.”<br/>
Megatron watches her cautiously.<br/>
Starscream nervously glances between the two femmes, “Sonica? Are you still you?”<br/>
Her head jerks his direction; almost making him jump. Then she looks back down at Gemshade.<br/>
“If you want any say in this decision I carry, you will stick this out and help me maneuver the streets, cultures, and politics. Do you understand me?”<br/>
Gemshade only sits there. The silence drags and her gaze grows numb.<br/>
“Just destroy me.”<br/>
Sonica raises a hand, hovering over Gemshade's spark.<br/>
Megatron stiffens. Starscream steps back. Gemshade peacefully closes her optics. Sonica’s fingers flex and there’s a snapping sound.<br/>
Gemshade is still...quiet...then her head falls forwards, hanging stiffly from her neck.<br/>
Starscream is frozen in place and Megatron stares intently at Gemshade.<br/>
Her wrists twist in the cuffs and they fall off of her. The silver energon rises from their shell to Sonica’s wrist where the needle waits. Then she relaxes her arm.<br/>
“I can’t do this without you.” Sonica begins calmly, “Though I might agree that silver-bloods are too powerful, I also don’t know you to be vile and sparkless.”<br/>
There’s a long echoing pause.<br/>
“This is what I’m here for,” Sonica grabs Gemshade’s wrist and lifts her off the floor, “I’m here to know what you know, and then some. Then, I will make my decision.”<br/>
As Sonica stands there, holding Gemshade’s hand between hers, there’s a regal glow in the way she carries herself. For the first time, Starscream sees Sonica as Doradus and marvels.<br/>
Megatron glances at everyone and nods once, “It’s better than your outline.”</p><p> </p><p>Whatever that was between Sonica and Gemshade, it worked. She immediately started going on about how the three of them don’t look native and will instantly raise a red flag, plus, even if they could disguise themselves, they couldn’t be seen walking around with a known criminal.<br/>
“Known, eh?” Starscream crosses his arms, “What did you do?”<br/>
Gemshade looks embarrassed, “Nothing.”<br/>
Megatron keeps them on task, “Sonica, would your illusions be helpful in this scenario?”<br/>
“What?” Gemshade glances between them.<br/>
Sonica winks around her finger gun, “Way ahead of you, blue eyes. I was just thinking about how I can do a 360 coverage without having to think about it all solar cycle.”<br/>
“Illusions?”<br/>
“Yeah, for my dances and performances. There's nothing like the energy that emanates from a crowd. It’s fuel for my spark.” She slightly swoons and catches a hint of Megatron’s smile.<br/>
Gemshade looks skeptical, “Taking your word for it. There’s no way you‘re going to pull off illusions.”<br/>
“Why the slag not?”<br/>
“Ultimately won’t matter. Buildings don’t have doors here.”<br/>
Starscream folds his arms pensively, “That does pose a problem.”<br/>
Megatron shifts his weight and the hesitation shows in the way he debates his hand placement on the table, “Would it...be easier in general...if it’s not too much... if you did to us what you did to me?”<br/>
“So specific,” Gemshade frowns but sees it means something to Sonica. She and Megatron stare at each other, thinking.<br/>
“Two full conversions would possibly terminate me.” Sonica finally answers, biting her lip.<br/>
“That’s fine,” He’s quick to say and he relaxes, “perhaps you’ll just have to feed it to us as we go. It may be tedious but that’s our only option with little risk.”<br/>
Sonica nods, “And that’ll be tricky considering you two need a 101 on silver energon.”<br/>
Gemshade glances between them once, “Let me know how it goes.”<br/>
“You are coming with us,” Sonica snarks back.<br/>
“Not without full powers. I have limited phasing ability. If we’re attacked, I’m parts.”<br/>
“The goal is not to be attacked and... I need some assurance from you that you won’t go sprinting off the moment I restore them.”<br/>
Gemshade’s roughness suddenly saturates, slumping her shoulders as she looks down. “I have one thing.”<br/>
Sonica’s optics widen, “You’re really going to help us? I don’t have to keep dragging your aft?”<br/>
She shoots a sharp glare, “If there’s any chance that things can change...” she pulls out a small ring, that fits in her palm, filled with pieces of armor platings, “I owe them to try.”<br/>
They stare at it a moment. The pieces are various thicknesses and change shape near the ends. The holes are uneven, in whatever spot she could easily puncture it, and it makes the circle jagged like the rays of a star. In a morose way, it’s beautiful.<br/>
Starscream and Megatron won’t say it but Sonica is sure they find this repulsive. What they may see as pieces of dead bots, the femmes see them as a preservation of the imprints they left in her life. This is a normal thing here on Chrysalis as it is viewed to honor those who departed. This ring is the most precious possession Gemshade holds; precious enough that she may risk her spark to keep it safe.<br/>
With up-most reverence, Sonica gently takes it. A long and serious look in one another’s optics say all that needs to be said before she tucks it safely in the empty compartment in the side of her upper torso, where she used to hold samples of the types.<br/>
Starscream scrutinizes the exchange and is surprised when Sonica sets her hand on Gemshade’s midriff.<br/>
“Wait, you’re actually going to...”<br/>
“There’s a lot you don’t yet understand. I trust Gemshade to do the right thing.”<br/>
Megatron takes a step forwards, “I concur with Starscream on this one. If SinStorm had the same abilities as you and lost...”<br/>
Her smile cuts him off, “Do you trust me?”<br/>
He hesitates and Starscream fidgets under her asking gaze. Finally Megatron nods. Starscream sighs and gestures for her continue.<br/>
Sonica smiles and turns back to where her hand remains placed on Gemshade’s middle. Thinking through what she’s about to do, makes her more sad.<br/>
Inside every silver blood, is something of a ring around their main blood supply. This is where all the silver energon is renewed and pumped throughout the veins. The ring inserted there by a surgery done before the spark wakes for the first time, is the source of muting their abilities. It acts like a magnet to the atoms of some of its more “magical” properties and keeps them from being pumped out into the rest of the body. Though the mind can still ask the blood to phase-shift, the lack of atoms would only allow a small number of times. The veins tell the mind when they are too low and that prevents the Transformer from trying what they cannot do.<br/>
As Sonica’s control over a small portion of Gemshade’s blood traces the ring, she finds the answer to her question of why Gemshade isn’t terminated yet. There’s a dent in the ring; possibly from a blow to her midriff. The ring dissolves the magic properties instead of holding onto them and causing a fatal clot.<br/>
At one time, Doradus believed this was just. The powerful must have a fail-safe in case one of their own go rouge. Now Sonica doesn’t see it so definitely; it’s a termination sentence that only the Phantom knows about; activated by the barrier around the planet. Trapped by a hidden death.<br/>
“This might hurt a little,” Sonica rotates her hand, her fingers following the grooves of Gemshade’s armor as she commands the silver energon to seep between the blood supply organ and the ring. It’s a snug fit but with acute concentration, she manages. Sonica’s hand rests sideways, across Gemshade’s middle, and she pauses.<br/>
“Hold your ground in 3...2...” Sonica’s fingers twitch outwards at the same time she yanks her hand back an inch.<br/>
Gemshade’s whole body jerks. A stunned breath intake escapes and her hands hover to her midriff. “What did you do?”<br/>
“You’ll see actually,” Sonica uses her other hand to form the silver around the broken ring, “I need to get this out before the poison becomes too much for your systems.”<br/>
“What?” Her hands shake, “What’s in me?”<br/>
Megatron runs for a medical kit.<br/>
“Starscream,” Sonica starts moving it carefully towards the front of her, “you may have to hold her. This is going to hurt.”<br/>
“Wait, put me in stasis!”<br/>
“There’s no time, my dear. I’m sorry, I didn’t know it had an extra feature.”<br/>
The poison sizzles and eats the surrounding silver and Sonica has to keep readjusting her kinetic grip.<br/>
Starscream comes up from behind and loops his arms around Gemshade’s. By Sonica’s suggestion, they lower to the ground so he can pin down her legs too. Gemshade’s emergency systems activate and her respiratory systems start rapidly pumping air.<br/>
Megatron returns and opens the kit, pulling out a small insertion knife, “Where?”<br/>
“Between my hands.”<br/>
“Will I be in the way?”<br/>
“No. Ignore my hands, I’ll work around yours. Quickly.”<br/>
Megatron's movements are precise, yet cautious. He feels his hands are too big, but there’s no time to switch with Starscream. He moves as close to the end of the knife as he can and maintain a firm grip.<br/>
“Vertical or...?”<br/>
“Vertical. Do it now.”<br/>
He obeys and Gemshade tenses. Sonica apologizes over and over as groans and cries escape. The poison bursts a cloud into her body. Sonica is near a panic. She starts scooping the contaminated silver energon out, letting it splash on the floor and ignoring Gemshade’s screams, at the same time she pulls the ring out with more speed. The moment the ring pokes through the cut, Megatron grabs it, and starts to pull.<br/>
“Faster than that,” Sonica coaches with a fast mouth while keeping the ring in one piece, “Faster, faster, faster...”<br/>
“It’ll tear her open,”<br/>
“Just do it!”<br/>
He yanks it out and Gemshade doesn’t wail. They watch and her optic lights flicker and go out. Her body slouches against Starscream.<br/>
Sonica curses and injects her needle next to Gemshade’s spark, giving her a couple drops of white energon and waiting. “Come on, come on...”<br/>
She pulls out the ring of Gemshade’s fallen and wraps it in her hands, “Come back, Gemshade, you’re not done.”<br/>
Her hand clenches around it and the white energon starts working. Starscream lets go but stays put as Gemshade endures the pain. Sonica waits until she settles down then before she can do it, Megatron uses the scanner to check her systems.<br/>
It doesn’t read her, it pops up an error. He shows it to her and Sonica injects a small sample inside. Without a word, he waits a short moment before trying again. They read that she’s in good health.<br/>
Sonica gently takes the memorial ring back; Gemshade lets her. Then Sonica slumps with a relieved exhale, “Crisis averted. Good work, team.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Paint</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Alright, here’s my idea,” Sonica tries again after Gemshade has had a short powerdown. She gathers them around the map again, “I can do a mask of sorts to change Gemshade’s face but I think the rest of us just need a fresh coat of paint.”<br/>They glance over Gemshade’s white and mint coloring, with an accent color of a navy blue.<br/>Starscream fails to hide his disgust, “Are you implying that everyone on this planet has those colors?”<br/>Sonica double checks, looking to Gemshade who shrugs with a shoulder.<br/>“White is my dominant color, per choice. You can chose something else.”<br/>“Ooo! I want to do the mint.”<br/>Megatron drums his fingers once, thinking, “We don’t have paint supplies on this ship.”<br/>“That you know of, blue eyes,” Sonica pulls out the large case from under the table that she privately brought out just for this moment, “Bam. You didn’t think Knockout would let me leave unprepared, did you?”<br/>Starscream sneers and steps back, “No, no, I am not changing to walk out there and look like a thousand others. Absolutely not.”<br/>Gemshade sighs heavily, "I'll help. I know paint plays...so un-pop your clutch, Starscream."<br/>Sonica throws open the lid to the painting case, “So that’s what we’re doing. Let’s get started.”<br/>Gemshade takes charge of paint and design for Sonica while Megatron and Starscream try to make the hated colors work on them through plans in their head.<br/>The base of Sonica’s armor takes the mint green in which they added an extra shimmer then bordered some of it with a navy blue around the edges. The white takes the rest of her secondary plating to separate the base green from the third layer’s green. The blue continues to boarder these pale pieces and the white highlights the places between the blue outlines. When her paint is dried and polished, she finds some matching jewels packed inside behind the spare tubes.<br/>Gemshade notices, “Serious?”<br/>Sonica looks curiously at her, “Should I not be?”<br/>“Jewels are a sign of pride which leads to further wickedness and recklessness.”<br/>There’s an awkward pause and Sonica looks at the jewels in her hand. The memories blink in the sheen and there’s some sadness to the thought of not wearing them. “Fine. But we'll see where we are when we’re done gathering intel. There's nothing wrong with looking nice.”<br/>Sonica helps with painting Starscream, not only because the machine is little and is faster to man with two hands, but also because they had to nearly drag Starscream in. Megatron politely asked for more time whereas Starscream threw a fit with a stomp.<br/>“These colors are ugly! I am not wearing them!”<br/>Sonica played coy and looked over her paint with pretended innocence, “Are you sure they’re ugly? I picked the mint green and I think it looks good.”<br/>Starscream looked her over again and fidgeted, “Well...of course it looks good on you but...that’s you making these colors seem so...”<br/>“Wear the same ones and we’ll match!” She only half-pretends her excitement.<br/>It made Starscream cringe and he let her drag him along by the wrist. As he took placement in the dusted spot where Sonica once stood, he tried to cooperate with a suggestion towards his paint.<br/>“I’d rather the dark blue, it’s less...” He stopped there; he couldn’t even compliment the conservative color of the three.<br/>Gemshade's chuckle clops in the depths of her throat, “I know you’re thrilled, but you’d better do white.”<br/>Sonica came up beside her and Gemshade started mapping it out with small hand gestures.<br/>“Aaah, I see,” They smiled at each other, “if all this goes well and you don’t mind visiting Cybertron again, I need to introduce you to my best friend. He’d really like your artistic eye.”<br/>“My artistic eye isn't voluntary.”<br/>Sonica tilted back as she laughed.<br/>After some convincing, he let them start with the mint green and Gemshade went to work. Very sparingly, she uses the green on smaller parts of his body, the spike on his forehead to start and he only allowed it because she said she wasn’t going to leave it all green. Down the sides of his feet, the palm of his hands, his neck, and a few stripes angled down his sides are all the green she does before changing sprayers. Most of his silver is covered in white, including his Decepticon symbol. Then she breaks it up with accent pieces that get the dark blue, which Gemshade insisted it had a light glitter.<br/>He complained the whole time and demanded assurance that once it was all over, he could go back to his usual colors. Gemshade ultimately had to scold him and promise to do it over if he really couldn’t stand it. That only shut him up for a while.<br/>But as the design slowly came together, he was almost okay with it. For a while, he was sure he had too much white but Gemshade didn’t stop for some time afterwards. After using the thicker sprayer tips for the stripe along the bottom of his wings and on the side of his head, Gemshade changed several times between the fine tip and the ultra fine and that’s what added dimension and depth to his otherwise, pale appearance. Like she did with Sonica, she used the dark color to boarder his larger white plating but it wasn’t around the edges, but on the edge. With a flexible guard that she can slightly tuck under his armor, she uses the ultra fine tip to spray the thickness that she can see from the angles above his head and looking straight up from the floor. <br/>Lastly, Gemshade returns to the spike on his forehead. She starts at the base of the spike with the dark blue, and goes slow until about half way. Then she pulls it away and flicks her wrist.<br/>Sonica’s comment was all the clue he had to what she was doing: “It looks almost like a green flame with a dark blue center. Gemshade, you’re a genius.”<br/>She scoffs at the compliment and keeps going because when she finishes his spike, she does the same with the side of his feet, neck, and his palms.<br/>On his hands, the dark blue is thickest around his wrists before it gradually fades towards his fingers where the light green is boldest against his dark blue fingers. In the faded area between the two, there’s almost a nice complimentry teal. His feet are the same way with the dark blue closest to his ankle. The green down the sides of his feet stand out against the rest of his dark blue feet. It doesn’t look half bad.<br/>“The colors are still not ideal,” he sighs and fights to be nice, “but it’ll do.”<br/>“Find a mirror, Starscream,” Sonica encourages, “honestly, she made those colors look really good on you.”<br/>He mutters a thanks to both of them and decides to do as she suggested. Plus, he wanted out of there before Megatron took his turn.<br/>For that, Sonica had to leave Gemshade to it because the next step in her plan is to log their records in their system. For this, she uses Starscream to start.<br/>He answers her questions about his age and such then puts in the address Gemshade suggested. They want to seem like they’ve been there a while and have moved a couple times before they all ended up at the same place: a location near the abandoned city where their boat is anchored.<br/>“Do you really think that you can just plug my pretend record into their system that easily?”<br/>“In fact, I do.” Sonica is adjusting his full body image into the record as he stands there, “You see, the Phantom and the Sade are sure that no one knows about Chrysalis; even those banished, are expected to go offline. And with how they crack down on minimal things like laughter and pride, they may have full confidence that no one is going to make up new records. Plus, if the race is dying out and they aren’t trying to boost the numbers, ours should just blend into the few they aren’t watching.”<br/>Starscream’s frown tilts to one side, “That seems a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?”<br/>“Oh I know it is,” Sonica giggles to herself, “but...it seems I like to play dangerous games so...”<br/>The comment reminds him and he glances about for the other two. Not seeing them, he moves closer to Sonica, “Do you miss how things used to be?”<br/>She looks at him, “Between us?”<br/>“Yes,” he puts his spark forwards.<br/>Sonica thinks about it, “Sometimes.”<br/>He takes her hand, “Everything is different now and if we’re walking onto this dangerous planet, I want to try again.”<br/>The way her optics lift from their hands to stare through his, hurts, “Why? Why do you want to try again?”<br/>Starscream isn’t prepared for this question. He defaults to some general flowery talk but it sticks in his voice box. He can’t bring himself to say it. Memories between them flash behind his eyes and the ache in his spark cherishes them. But it doesn’t ache nearly as much as the thought of lying to her.<br/>His frustration takes front, like always, “How is this going to end, Sonica? Let’s pretend you accomplish the mission, all is well and Chrysalis is cured or whatever and there’s no need to stay and we return to Cybertron. What then? Are you going to go offline? What am I going to do? There’s nothing left for me on Cybertron unless you’re still around for some reason.”<br/>“Where’s this coming from?” Her brow furrows, “You’ve always managed alone. Isn’t that how you prefer it?”<br/>“Sonica, I want more. That hasn’t changed.” He looks away, “I don’t get ‘more’ alone.”<br/>As she thinks about it, a smile plays at the corner of her mouth. “I know what you mean. Really, I do. For your sake, I hope this mission is beneficial in the best way.”<br/>He watches her, carefully listening.<br/>“My hope is this planet and it’s inhabitants can be saved without endangering anyone else. If I can do that, I think you should stay here where you have a fresh start.” She sets a hand on his cheek, “And you don’t need me, to begin again. I, personally, don’t want more. Your friendship and all others are enough for me. I can’t take you where you want to go, nor can I happily follow.”<br/>He presses her hand to his face and shuts his optics.<br/>“Starscream,” She waits to get eye contact, “I’m your biggest fan. I believe you can do amazing things because you’ve got the spark for it.” She debates her words with a smile, “I mean, you may aim for total domination but that doesn’t seem like you. That’s old Megatron. You’re your own bot and you will do things your way. And that’s the way I hope you do it.”<br/>They hear the footsteps first and Sonica lets go and turns. Megatron strides into the better lighting of the bridge, mostly navy blue. The white highlights his edges in fine lines and seem to glow against the dark color. The under edge of his helmet piece is white as well. Where his collar used to be violet, is now the mint green and it helps spread the blue of his optics. One of the special touches Gemshade did, is on his shoulders. The white stripe starts on the underside of the spikes and gradually thins to nothing and specks of white follow down to the base and stop; it’s as though he displays earth’s night sky on his shoulders.<br/>Sonica’s smile spreads to either side of her face, “Wow.”<br/>His smile is tilted, “Surely it’s not the colors you find appealing.”<br/>She gives him a sly look, “Yeah... I suppose it’s not just the colors.”<br/>There's a soft, warm pause and his gaze brightens.<br/>Starscream gags, “Would you not?”<br/>“How about you mind your own business, lieutenant.”<br/>Gemshade strides in and purposely bumps Megatron’s arm, “Told you.”<br/>He’s still trying to calm his racing spark, “Thank you, I suppose.” He meets Sonica’s gaze and she slowly turns back to the table.<br/>“We are robots...in disguise!”<br/>Starsceam make a face, “Robots disguised as other robots...”<br/>Sonica shushes him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. History of Tears</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s as hard as Gemshade thought, but then again, it isn’t. Something about the extra footsteps behind her are comforting.<br/>They find the home with the address Gemshade provided, through the rough terrain of Chrysalis. The rocks are taller and thicker than the buildings in the city. The bubbled and sponge-like formations point straight up into the sky. On some giant spider web-like tendons tether the rock to the ground, where the crystal road has to move around it.<br/>If the road was polished, it would look like glass and according to Gemshade, it used to be so. What they don’t expect is the pale orange liquid the swerves and flows like water underneath. This is their “energon”. <br/>She tells them silver-bloods can’t consume blue energon like they can; it has to be changed or it has to be this coraltine liquid that floods in scattered puddles in the rural flats.<br/>The rural flats, Gemshade tells them, used to be a city like Iacon.<br/>“What happened?” Sonica glances around and can almost see the ghosts of the departed bots wondering, searching..<br/>“Rhine was too glorious and mechs were rebelling in prideful ways. The Sade saw corruption within the city as a whole. Everyone was told to evacuate, and it was plowed and erased. All who refused to leave their homes, perished in the demolition.”<br/>“Good to know,” Starscream frowns at the exposing emptiness around them, “if we aren’t terminated by a suspicious citizen, we’ll perish under ridiculous laws.”<br/>Gemshade doesn’t laugh, “The laws aren’t the worst part.”<br/>When they find the house, Megatron forgets not to look for doors. Sonica smiles and feeds them silver energon through the needle in her wrist.<br/>“Your basic training on silver energon begins. First rule is focus it or it will do it’s own thing. That’s bad, in case my tone didn’t make that clear. After that, you move like you would wearing a phase-shifter. Think of going through, not at...if that makes sense.”<br/>After a little practice with their arms, they finally step through.<br/>The house is a single story. It’s in good shape minus the fine traces of sand frosting the furniture, counters, and table. Sonica looks through the cupboards and finds them full of dishes. Starsceam looks over old fashioned board games in almost new condition. Megatron counts three bedrooms at the end of a short hallway. In the largest one, a desk still holds stacks of screen tablets and containers of paint care products. Picking them up, he finds they are barely used. The screen tablets are marketing charts and other work forms...save the bottom one that held pictures. The three bots aren’t smiling in any of them.<br/>The whole house appears that the owners one day...just left. All the daily cares and simplistic comforts are left behind as if the inhabitants were going to return and use them again...but didn’t.<br/>Megatron turns to leave the larger room and finds Sonica standing in front of the entry way. He waits there in case she’s coming in.<br/>She takes a few steps and notices the same things he did. “I don’t like this. I don’t like that everything is just left here...”<br/>“That’s good.” He steps around her to look for cleaning supplies, “Because we’re here to change it somehow.”<br/>Sonica relaxes and nods as he steps into the short hallway.<br/>As they’re cleaning, the communicator on her hip beeps. Knockout is the first one she sees and greets. Then he surprises her with the others gathered around, refueling during a break.<br/>She absorbs the familiar and cheerful for as long as she can before they ask about her paint colors. Starscream runs away when she begins to show them the new changes in their appearance. He forgets about the lack of doors and her comments on him are drowned out under his bellowed frustration. Gemshade almost convinces him to step out and to stop acting embarrassed about her efforts. He still refused and they let him be.<br/>Then they get a tour of the house. Sonica leaves out her observations of how eerie it is that everything is left behind. To keep it lighthearted, she asks Gemshade about the board games.<br/>They learn that those games were very popular and the community used to gather to play before the ban was passed. One was a guessing game, another was a game of chance, and the third was one of strategy.<br/>The last half of the chores waited while they got distracted with the games and talking to friends from Cybertron. They watched them play for a while. Megatron liked the strategy one. Starscream liked the chance game most and was good at it. The excitement wore off and they finally disconnected.<br/>With the audience gone, the motive to keep playing dies out; for everyone but Starscream who scoops up the tokens to the chance game.<br/>“Let’s finish this then we can go back to manual labor.”<br/>Megatron leans back on the couch, “It’s just a game, Starscream. We have bigger work to do.”<br/>Gemshade nods and tosses in the tiles, “May I suggest one alteration...you’ll want to tour the city before you finish chores here.”<br/>Starscream starts to lazily put it away, “Why is that?”<br/>“You’ll want something to do with your hands...to make you feel like you’re doing something and have some control in your life.”<br/>Sonica fully believes her this time, “Alright, we’ll do that, but first, Megatron and Starscream need to practice silver more.”<br/>“I think we’ve mastered phase-shifting,” Megatron sets his arm on the back of the couch, “Haven’t we?”<br/>“There’s much more to silver than that,” Sonica smiles softly, “Most importantly, you have to learn how to block people’s minds.”<br/>Gemshade takes on the teaching as she knows the better methods to doing this. In the meantime, Sonica has a subject on her mind that plagues her curiosity. Megatron notices her leaving.<br/>“I’m not going far. I just want to study the matter of this planet.”<br/>He accepts but the slight of anxiousness in his optics tells her he doesn’t like her going out alone. She gives him a confident smile as she phases through the wall and steps outside.<br/>All the city lights near the horizon cast a glow about halfway to the opposite horizon that Sonica faces. In the city, it is day, like on earth but night falls just a few miles away. The stars glitter the sky and a far away galaxy casts a nebula over the planet, fading over the city but continuing on.<br/>Sonica takes it in and remembers earth but when her mind takes in the newness around her, the questions return: what's happening to the silver bloods? What is this coraltine exactly?<br/>Sonica pulls out a few empty viles from another subspace on her back and scrapes dust off the rocks for a sample, which was easier than she thought. She also scoops some of the pale orange out of one of the nearby puddles. When the samples are tucked away, she stares back down at the coraltine puddle she took the sample from. If this is supposedly energon, she should be able to control it.<br/>Sonica lifts a hand and sends a command for it to lift from the ground and form a bubble. <br/>It does nothing. <br/>So...it’s not energon. Then how does it fuel the silver-bloods? Perhaps if Gemshade wouldn’t mind taking some, Sonica could somehow watch how her body processes it. But there’s another analysis she wants to do first.<br/>In their hidden ship, she runs the samples through the exploration analysis program. The computer scans, dissects, and labels all the different elements within, then logs it all into the memory banks.<br/>The ship is able to identify everything that constitutes the rocks and sand, which Sonica finds at its very basic form, it’s mostly a refined and toughened quartz. If that ill-effects Transformers, she would’ve learned that during the Golden Age.<br/>Next, she tries the coraltine and anticipates the odd for this one. The program runs through it twice before it shows the results and Sonica frowns. It has many elements and chemicals in it but nothing that would harm or cause depression; not even the traces of glass.<br/>However, there’s one thing she does realize in comparing this to other energon... the coraltine has small amounts of the contents in regular energon. Everything energon is, all Transformers need, and the silver-bloods are surviving on trace amounts of it. They could fill their systems with this stuff and it’ll keep them online but it doesn’t replenish, strengthen, or energize. If it does, it’s on a basic and small scale.<br/>That’ll do it. That can cause their short life span.<br/>Sonica copies her findings to a portable drive and keeps it with her. Now she’ll return to the house to specify the details to phase one.</p><p> </p><p>Megatron phases outside and stands looking up at the stars and the line of the nebula streaming overhead.<br/>He doesn’t feel comfortable in the house, for the moment, and wonders if he will later.<br/>It started after Gemshade instructed that they try to extract from her mind; ones she was purposely sharing. Her suggestion, as silly as it sounded, helped them do this: imagine the mind has hands.<br/>Through trial and error, they grasp the memories of her first solar cycle as a new spark. She was excited and spent most of her free time climbing the pinnacles with her friends and co-workers. They worked in the fanciest place they had during that time: the floating restaurant. It doubled as a library. Vehicles and flyers could make it there to sit down and refuel. It was a comfortable place and very quiet. Gemshade didn’t completely like it though.<br/>Starscream got more out of it than Megatron did. He began asking her why the atmosphere there was so stiff. He also asked about the conversation she began with a customer at the end of that memory because they seemed mutually afraid of something.<br/>Gemshade was impressed and revealed that that customer was fresh out of a sentencing for something he had done.<br/>“What was it?” Starscream pried.<br/>“He told lies to people on the street about a better fuel source. He terminated four bots.”<br/>“What was the sentencing?”<br/>Gemshade didn’t seem to mind Starscream’s prodding, “He was imprisoned in the Sade castle. It's a mystery to why, but it’s well-known for changing bots. They go in prideful and come out humble and obedient.”<br/>Dramatically, Starscream nodded once, “Our intel should begin there.”<br/>“We don’t know for sure that the government and the Sade are the source of the problem.”<br/>“She seems to think so.”<br/>Gemshade shrugged under their gazes, “They pass the laws, take role as judges, and they assign the punishments. How aren’t they the problem?”<br/>She was quick to change the subject and she used her abilities on them so they could practice blocking.<br/>That’s when it got uneasy.<br/>Unexpectedly, Megatron could feel the fingers of her power groping through his memories. He saw the ones she touched and received but he was able to quickly shove her out. The one she touched was one during the war, where he ripped Bumblebee’s voice box out.<br/>This scared her.<br/>“No wonder my influence on my shipmates snapped when they saw you...”<br/>Starscream rubbed it in, “Whatever you saw, it probably wasn’t the worst he’s done. I know my hands aren’t clean but I’d say he’s filthier than I.”<br/>That old, reliable anger ignited. The habit to act on it made his arm twitch and Starscream cowered. It took all of his weak self control to keep from striking him. When he saw Gemshade ready to attack him, his anger vanished.<br/>He shuffled, clenched and unclenched his fists, then muttered an apology and left to stand outside.<br/>Megatron knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Starscream, somewhere, would take any shot to stab at him in front of Sonica or Gemshade. He has his strings tied carefully around both of them and uses them for protection. It was only a matter of time that he would gain enough confidence to strike.<br/>Surely, Starscream continues in there, telling Gemshade everything. He can only hope that he looks foolish telling her all this because Megatron’s recent behavior is the opposite and therefore doesn’t sound like him. That’s very unlikely.<br/>He glances over the flats, looking for Sonica and decides to wait outside for her. Maybe by that time, he’ll be done fuming.<br/>She startles him coming from a direction to his right instead of straight in front of him.<br/>She puts her hands up, “It’s me, it’s me; sorry Megs. I didn’t know you were out here waiting for me.”<br/>He rests his cannon arm back at his side, “What were you out here for?”<br/>“Just studying the environment. I was curious if anything is poisoning them or something.” She walks up and stands beside him.<br/>“What are your results?”<br/>“I’ll tell you when we get inside. I’d rather only say it once and...I guess Starscream is second-in-command...he should be one of the first to know.”<br/>“He’s positioned himself wisely.” He frowns as they both stare up at the stars.<br/>“Yeah, he does that.”<br/>“You let him do that.”<br/>She giggles, “I know. I learned that from you.”<br/>He turns his head and raises a brow, “For the same reasons?”<br/>“I think so,” She smiles and taps her head with a finger, “keeps him close and I can watch him.”<br/>Megatron smiles, “All that time, I thought your focus was to annoy me. You learned well.”<br/>“I’ve always been a good multi-tasker. Everyone seems surprised by that.”<br/>A small chuckle rumbles from his throat.<br/>Sonica’s smile widens and she beams up at him, “It’s good to hear you laugh like that.”<br/>“It’s a first. I’m still getting used to it.”<br/>“Ah, is that why you’re out here?”<br/>“I suppose that’s part of it.” He takes a deep air intake and lets it out. The air between them falls still. No insect noises from earth, no rushing vehicles or soaring flyers. The air is so devoid of sound that they could probably hear the stars burning if they listened just a little deeper.<br/>“Sonica,” He hesitates to ask, “are you afraid of me?”<br/>She laughs and it catches him off guard. It’s not an insulting laugh but surprisingly pleasant and endearing, “No, I know you too well. In fact, I’ve never been afraid of you.”<br/>His optics fall shut and he soothes the wound in his spark. It bled just nanokliks ago but her words mended it. It’s a good feeling...and one he never thought existed.<br/>Sonica’s smile remains as she continues, “I don’t even recall fearing you for a moment. Not when you charged at me with weapons ready or cackled evilly over my head when you saw me cringe...”<br/>“You don’t need to remind me.”<br/>She softly turns her head from the stars and sets a hand on his arm, “Megatron, that past will always haunt you if you don’t forgive yourself.”<br/>“I want it behind me.”<br/>“It already is.” She rubs a little static, “And whatever my old wisdom is worth, I share with you that talking about those things gives them less power. If you’re constantly hiding, you’re letting it control you.<br/>“Here’s an example,” She comes around in front of him, “that ability I don’t like to use--- I fear it and I don’t like to talk about it because it ruins trust in all my relationships with others. Legit, right?”<br/>She waits.<br/>“Right,” He forces a response.<br/>“Guess what, not telling my friends was worse than telling them. If they saw me using it when they didn’t know I could do it, I terrified the spark out of them. Compare that with them already aware: if they do see me use it, they know it really bothers me and there’s no fear keeping them from coming to help, see what I’m saying?”<br/>“But you didn’t tell me about it back then.”<br/>“I was protecting myself. You and I weren’t friends then.”<br/>He thought he had found a hole there but got a slap on the wrist instead.<br/>“You don’t have to tell the whole universe or even a bot you just met but don’t stop talking about it with those you see as friends.” She gives him a bright lip smile.<br/>He challenges it, “You might get bored hearing about it.”<br/>“As long as I know it’s helping you, I don’t care how often or how little.”<br/>Megatron’s spark pounds so hard and fast that it almost makes him dizzy. He compares it to having the dark energon shard in his chest all over again.<br/>“Are you alright?” She tilts her head.<br/>He rubs his optics with his thumb and pointer finger, “Yes.”<br/>Sonica returns to his side, taking his free hand softly, and resting her head on his arm without a word.<br/>They stand quietly and a shooting star darts across the atmosphere. Megatron stands taller than he feels as her words make sense of his pieces. It’s up to him to put them together and she gives him that space to do it. The only sore spot left is: he could’ve had this all along.<br/>He remembers her results and breaks the moment to usher themselves inside.<br/>Gemshade and Starscream sit on the couch talking and he has an arm resting on the back partially behind her. He doesn’t remove it when they walk in and looks content about it until he notices their hand holding.<br/>Gemshade starts to comment but Sonica interrupts with her finds about the coraltine<br/>“The other part of that is,” She looks at the silver blood, “you can consume regular energon.”<br/>“No. Four bots died drinking it.”<br/>Sonica’s brow furrows, “That’s not possible. Blue adapts to the other types, it’s one of the foundational building blocks to the others.”<br/>She shakes her head, “Doesn’t change the fact that four bots are gone because of it.”<br/>“Gemshade, look, if blue and silver were incompatible, do you think I ever would’ve given it to Megatron or Starscream?”<br/>She glances at them.<br/>“They are your living proof. Your kin are malnourished and are dying.”<br/>Gemshade gets angry, “I’ve never felt so lied to...this planet should just blow up and spare us all the humiliation.”<br/>“It’s not your fault. Someone set this up.” Megatron assures.<br/>“Why?” She yells, “Why would anyone want to destroy us like that? We are all silver-bloods, we’re connected...why would someone deliberately do this?”<br/>Sonica sets a hand on her shoulder, “That’s what we’ll find out. Tomorrow. Though my find is a good one, I want to make sure that is all that afflicts your kin.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Silver-blood Sorrow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A strange storm put off their mission a solar cycle. It was interesting to watch through the window and Sonica sat in the window seat for the whole thing.<br/>
It’s freezing out there so it looks like snow but it hits the roof like the rain from earth, making a soothing, rushing sound. It starts with the sand kicked up by the updrafts, if it isn’t peeled from the rock pinnacles. Because of these tall spears of growing quartz, the wind does funny things and the sand shows it as it splashes against the base like an ocean wave. But the reason these giants are able to stand and grow like they do, is because of the atmospheric rotations. The sky on Chrysalis doesn’t have wind that blows flat in one or two directions. It circulates upwards almost like a giant wheel. A shift underground collides with the wavy atmosphere that moves over just the right way, causing the sand fly up as high as the giants. When it comes down, the sand particles have collected moisture before rejoining the freezing wind and falling back to the ground as tiny little dots.<br/>
Gemshade sneered at it and hoped aloud that the roto-storm would be a short one. The longer it goes, the more frozen fine sand; if the frozen sand isn’t thrown back up again to come down as hail.<br/>
Starscream takes up the couch, trying to get a slight powerdown, as they talked about going out and flying to every city on Chrysalis. Though there are only five cities, they have many hidden places.<br/>
Megatron stands by the window Sonica sits at and they share a cup of silver energon.<br/>
“Is it strange that I think this is pretty?”<br/>
He thinks about it, “Did you like the snow on earth?”<br/>
“Yes.” She smiles, seeing where he’s going.<br/>
“Then no. It’s not strange...but it is strange that you like cold.”<br/>
“Because I can’t be out in it?”<br/>
He pauses again, “I take that back. You do have a fascination with danger. Of course you’d like the snow and...whatever this is.”<br/>
“Roto-storm.”<br/>
“But the frozen sand?”<br/>
“Oh, that’s icsa.”<br/>
Megatron turns back to Sonica to finish, “Snow and icsa.”<br/>
She giggles and he smiles at about it over his drink.<br/>
“You two disgust me.”<br/>
Sonica gives Starscream a look though he doesn’t see it with an arm draped over his optics.<br/>
“Just ignore him,” Megatron takes a sip, “he hates that more than anything.”<br/>
“I can hear you.”<br/>
“I don’t care.”<br/>
Sonica shakes her head, “You two need to work things out. I don’t really care how, but please do it before we get in a tight situation.”<br/>
“Alright then,” Megatron strides over and stands next to the couch, towering over him. Starscream senses it and peeks. It takes a moment before Megatron can spit it out, “I apologize.”<br/>
His expression wrinkles, “For what?”<br/>
“All past events.”<br/>
His shock has an echo, “No, don’t bother. ‘Sorry’ isn’t going to fix stellar cycles of your slag. You keep your apologies to yourself because they mean nothing.”<br/>
“It’s all I’ve got.”<br/>
Starscream has no retort and it angers him. He flails his arms, kicks a foot to sit up and he storms off after stubbing his toe on the leg of the furniture; sliding it instead of tripping. He phases into his room and leaves the quiet behind.<br/>
Gemshade watches him in surprise before turning the same expression to Megatron.<br/>
Megatron notices, “Got a problem?”<br/>
“No. Just didn’t expect.”<br/>
“Because he told you everything?”<br/>
“He’s bad at blocking. I got pieces.”<br/>
Sonica found that humorous and he turns to her.<br/>
“I tried.”<br/>
“I believe you,” She smiles, “but you might have made it worse.”<br/>
Megatron looks disgusted as he leans against the wall and gets comfortable there, “I can’t get anymore personable than that.”<br/>
“Perhaps not yet.”<br/>
He raises a brow, “This is Starscream we’re talking about.”<br/>
“I’ve never had a problem.”<br/>
He reels.<br/>
“I wasn’t referring to that, I just mean in general. He and I have had some deep conversations.” She swats at his leg and shakes her head.<br/>
“That?” Gemshade asks and they turn to her.<br/>
Sonica blinks a couple times, “Yes, I mean static.”<br/>
“What is it?”<br/>
Sonica grins.<br/>
Megatron stares down his glass, “Oh no.”</p><p> </p><p>“I have a pressing inquiry,” Megatron phases through the wall of the bigger room the moment he hears Gemshade, “We’ve been here for almost a whole solar cycle and no one has come to investigate.”<br/>
Gemshade looks bored, “Several reasons: one, the barrier disables only, because two, we don't worry about invasion--- we don’t exist. Three, we wouldn't care if there was an invasion.”<br/>
Sonica phases out of the same room Megatron was in, “Is there a difference between not worrying about attempts and not caring if they do try?”<br/>
Gemshade glances between them and smirks.<br/>
But for the conversation, she answers her question, “There is a difference. It requires witness to understand.”<br/>
“Oh good, that’s what we’re doing today after we acknowledge one matter of business. I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I want to hear your guys’ input.”<br/>
Megatron slightly bows and gestures to the lounge space, “After you, captain.”<br/>
He takes the end of the line down the hallway to Starscream looking out the window.<br/>
“Seems to have cleared up out there,” he turns to them, “but a thick layer of that...stuff...coats the ground. We’ll have to be sure it’s warm enough for you, Sonica.”<br/>
“Right, but real quick, what do you all think of me finding a large amount of energon to collect and help feed the silver-bloods?”<br/>
“Where would you get the ‘large amount’?”<br/>
“I first thought to drain the mini-ship. We know the exact coordinates of Chrysalis and our communicators will assure the bots back home will receive them. However, if the ship isn’t enough, we ground ourselves from going else where to find more.”<br/>
Starscream raises a brow, “But your energon sight can only go so far.”<br/>
“I can go further than I told you last,” She wears a sheepish grin, “I could tell you if there is any within the planet, since this one isn't full of dark energon.”<br/>
Megatron shakes his head, “I’m still learning all your secrets.”<br/>
“If I could remember them all, I would lay it all out for you.” She laughs, “I’ve been keeping them so long I forget what’s secret and what’s not.”<br/>
Gemshade puts up a hand, “Is there energon here?”<br/>
Sonica takes a moment. Her optics darken and she’s still for a few megacycles. She returns to normal optic light and relaxes. “Nothing.”<br/>
“All we have is what’s on and inside the ship,” Megatron rubs his chin, “Unless we leave and try to find more.”<br/>
“Don’t bother,” Gemshade’s somber tone interrupts, “Let's gather intel."</p><p>There are many circular buildings and those are the tallest. As Megatron, Starscream, Gemshade, and Sonica fly low above the empty streets, they learn that the circular skyscrapers are often living spaces. The shorter, square ones, are the repair shops and one of those, in the entire city, is a laboratory for scientific endeavors.<br/>
The streets are empty because of the icsa that is about Starscream’s knee height and it’s just barely warm enough for Sonica. She can be out in it for a time but it’s limited. Gemshade assured that it wouldn’t be long and she was right.<br/>
Sonica almost struggles to fly and it’s not due to the cold. The city is all five cities combined and it’s only a thousand miles or so wide.<br/>
No one is plowing the streets for the ground bots and hardly anyone is in the air. Three or four flyers will soar overhead or near by across an intersection. They take the top airway without any communication. They do the polite thing and stay quiet even when talked to.<br/>
They stop inside what is called the Hall of History and it’s the only one left. They spend a few megacycles there reading all the information provided within the still-frames. This showed them a glorified history of the Phantoms and Sade members and which ones made which laws. They gradually grew stricter over time. Sonica found the ban on jewelry and Starscream insulted and slandered the “morons” that banned the games they have at their temporary home. Megatron shook his head at the one that took down the restaurants, including Gemshade’s old workplace. It was considered a luxury and luxury leads to pride which would make the silver-bloods monsters.<br/>
Megatron sees the fear tactic as it really is and recognizes the formula behind it. The old Megatron would’ve admired it and would nod approvingly at its effectiveness. But also from that stand point, what's to be accomplished from a dying race? If it is the Phantom and the Sade, are they committing genocide to weed out the weak? If so, their plan must not be advertised as everyone is perishing instead of striving and battling for better things. From what Megatron can gather from his old ways of thinking, this doesn’t make a lot of sense outside a goal of extinction. If that is the plan, who benefits from it? Or is that the point: they all should perish together?<br/>
Old Megatron no longer likes the idea and current Megatron feels heavy in the spark. How long have the silver-bloods lived like this?<br/>
Their history is longer than Cybertron’s but that may be due to better record keeping and lack of civil war.<br/>
Speaking of civil war, they are gathered at the part in history where the population divided. All it has to say is what Gemshade told them; some wanted to leave and some did not. Those that did not, were the majority and they punished those that resisted them. The Phantom decreed that all authoritative figures would not interfere and the people took the law upon themselves.<br/>
Megatron returns to his old strategical thinking. Too much of this seems planted but the goal is too obscure. It seems like this is what someone wants but why would they desire extinction?<br/>
He turns to Sonica to ask, “Are you sure that none of your sisters could leave your body?”<br/>
She nods curtly, “You’re thinking the same thing I am. Yes, I’m sure and yes, Sinstorm had enemies: all the bots she met. Many made attempts on her life but that doesn’t explain how they knew about the silver-bloods or why they would try to destroy them if they knew they were the ones that ultimately did her in.”<br/>
“Weather or not they knew, the motive to erase her and everything that originated from or resembled her would fit the circumstance. This would be an effective way to destroy an entire race if you’re too weak to face them.” Megatron adds.<br/>
Starscream glances between them and frowns, “You two have a point, it’s all too likely that someone out there would try to annihilate others simply by pounding into their heads the notions that they are worthless and deserve punishment.”<br/>
They all get the sense that was a jab at Megatron and his narrowed gaze at him confirms it.<br/>
Megatron nods, “And it’s the worst one. No one deserves it. I see that now.”<br/>
Starscream flinches but lashes again, “Thankfully, for those afflicted, those tactics don’t work on the weak, talentless, and resourceless. They make due and that’s why they’ve lasted as long as they have.”<br/>
Megatron nods again, “So how did you survive it all?”<br/>
“Do you really think you’re entitled to that information? It’s none of your business. You see, if tyrants learn how a bot survives, they figure out more ways to undermine them to mold blind faith and loyalty. The bot then gets a brief sense of belonging right before they partially wake and find there’s nothing of themselves left!<br/>
“If these silver-bloods are going to survive, the femmes and I are going to figure it out.”<br/>
“That’s not your call to make, Starscream,” Sonica hardens.<br/>
They glare at each other for a moment then Starscream looks away. The tension doesn’t break but prolongs. This was just the lighting of the fuse, the explosion has yet to come.<br/>
Starscream turns to an undisturbed Gemshade, who leads them out to the next place. Megatron and Sonica take the rear of the group and exchange tired glances.<br/>
Starscream and Gemshade walk out and Megatron stops at the wall. Sonica pauses with him.<br/>
“I don’t think it’s going to work. Am I doing it right?”<br/>
She sets a hand on his arm, “You’re doing very well. But I didn’t ask him to forgive you, just to work with you peacefully. If he doesn’t change, that’s not your fault.”<br/>
“Yes it is,” Megatron looks down, “I made him this way.”<br/>
“You were a great influence, yes, and Starscream needs the room and opportunity to heal. But healing is his job, not yours. Do you see what I’m saying?”<br/>
“You’re not saying this because you feel bad for me, are you?”<br/>
“I’m saying it because it’s true,” she smiles, “and because I love you.”<br/>
Megatron almost smiles, “Let’s catch up to them.”<br/>
They visited other places. Most of them were scanned because many of the locations were nearly empty. Scattered throughout stores and medical care centers, employees and customers filled some of the emptiness that continued in the cities. There were only a scarce few but Gemshade said it was a lot. Then she remembered it’s the anniversary of their independence day from Sinstorm.<br/>
Setting aside Starscream’s humor over their marking a former Doradus’ doom and death, the numbers that were out for this holiday was dire. They aren't celebrating anything, just walking around aimlessly.<br/>
And it got worse.<br/>
Gemshade takes them below ground to a place that looks like a prison. She told them this is the darkest place in all of Chrysalis and refused to go in with them; she could barely stand being near it. She kept glancing above to the lights of the city and physically leaned away from the building. None the less, she promised that if they would hurry, she would be waiting outside for them.<br/>
They phase through the entry wall, under a painted arch, and they find silver-bloods chained to the floor where they sit or kneel. Some are missing limbs and bleed on the floor; they watch their blood drip out. The silver energon makes pools on the ground. One leaks into another and follows a slant in the floor by their feet.<br/>
There are no leaders or instructors to tell them what’s going on.<br/>
One of the bots stands and he releases himself of the chains. A few bots look up and the standing one says nothing. The surrounding bots that watched him stand, follow him, shedding the chains.<br/>
Sonica heard the message he sent though the silver energon. She clings to Megatron’s arm to keep herself from charging after them and stopping them. Megatron tries to ask through the silver connection. It’s choppy but his worry is clear. She responds simply with her sorrow and her anger at being tied to observation only.<br/>
With a glance at Starscream, they walk the direction the others went.<br/>
It seems like the front of the room but through another painted archway, they find a whole other space. It’s dark and damp...no, saturated with moisture. They hear thuds and both know that specific sound: bodies falling on bodies.<br/>
This is a suicide room. An unkept one.<br/>
Without having to communicate, they both whirl around and step back through. Some other chained bots look up at them, sensing their hurry and disturbance, and they begin shouting at them. Their words are “cowards”, “dishonor”, and “selfish”. Their exit of the building is just as quick as the name-calling.<br/>
Gemshade and Sonica embrace one another and Gemshade looks up at them as they phase through the wall. Starscream is the first to ask why and there’s a peculiar edge to his voice that none of them have heard  before.<br/>
“Pride will make us evil and being evil is worse than death. Our ancestors were selfless, even the bots who justifiably destroyed SinStorm, destroyed themselves because they knew well, that they had done a dishonor terminating our creator. Their suicides cleansed them of their sin. They had no pride.”<br/>
Gemshade’s arms shake around Sonica, “We aren’t meant to exist. We were created by evil." She struggles to steady her voice, "We deserve nothing and not existing is better than existing.”<br/>
Starscream rests his arms across his chest, holding it in, and fixates his stare into the ground. This has him shaken inside.<br/>
Megatron lets out a heavy sigh and touches Sonica’s shoulder, deducing she heard what they were about to do in there. She lets go but her posture is stiff and angered.<br/>
“We need to fix this and we need to fix this now. I’ve seen enough.”<br/>
“No, you haven’t.” Gemshade withdraws physically and only the spite in her gaze remains, "I want to take you all to a diner and bar next.”<br/>
“For what purpose? I’m really not in the mood.”<br/>
“You’ve seen my kin at the worst, you need to see them at their best.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Fix</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they phase through the entry wall, the bots inside don’t recognize Gemshade with Sonica’s illusion mask over her face and though they’ve never seen the three of them, they don’t care to investigate or introduce themselves. No music plays. It’s only the clinks of glasses and muttered conversations. There are more bots here than anywhere they’ve seen but it’s still a small number. Minus the violence, this is about what Maccadam’s looked like as the war really started to take its toll and few bots visited.<br/>The bar is to their left and takes up the whole wall and it looks like a small kitchen stands behind the open shelving. The bar sits upon something like a porch as the tables, benches, and chairs cover the lower part of the floor.<br/>“I want to talk to them.” Sonica tells them in a low voice as they take a seat in the middle of the seating area.<br/>She and Megatron sit on one side, Gemshade and Starscream on the other. The femmes sit across from each other on the inside of the booth.<br/>“Before you do, you should know some of the typical linguistic lingo around here.”<br/>“What’s there to know? I just want to tell them they aren’t worthless and that there’s hope for better things.”<br/>Gemshade shakes her head, "Don't bother."<br/>“This is the saddest place I’ve ever seen,” Sonica drags her hands down her faceplate, “And I’ve seen a lot.”<br/>Megatron lightly strokes her back, “Sit for just a little longer. Then you can go full throttle, as long as you stay in my sights.”<br/>Sonica makes a face, “I can defend myself.”<br/>He gives her a long and tired look. He doesn’t have to say he’s thinking about SinStorm.<br/>“No one is going to know,” She frowns.<br/>"They don't have to," Gemshade raises a brow, "You are the most cheerful figure on this entire planet, Sonica."<br/>"So?"<br/>"That may lead to unwanted attention; especially the attention of whoever may be orchestrating this operation.” Starscream deadpans.<br/>“I can take them."<br/>“I politely ask that you stay close and under my watch. I do not want to arrive on the scene too late should something go wrong.”<br/>“Oh shut up.” Starscream covers his head, “Spare me.”<br/>Gemshade smirks at the looks they both give him; they look alike in their exasperation. “Anyway...some common words to know.”<br/>After listening to Gemshade for a megacycle and then watching her try to remember any that she may be missing, Sonica is more than anxious to move on.<br/>Megatron sets a hand on her shoulder before she stands.<br/>“Now what? I’ll be fine. No one will know and I’ll be safe. I know danger when I see it--- relax.”<br/>“That subject aside, I was about to bring to your attention the lack of a plan. If phase two is anything like your outline, you should have a step by step process to play by.”<br/>Sonica’s expression smears then shifts slightly into a mischievous smirk, “I like dangerous games.”<br/>“Not here.”<br/>“Yes here.”<br/>“Sonica, please, think this through. We can’t make a mistake.”<br/>“Then just let me handle it. Each time I wait to say something, the more bots fade away.”<br/>Gemshade glances between them, “Sorry Sonica, I’m with him on this score. Do you know how you’re going to answer questions when they notice?”<br/>“Yes. I was paying attention. Please let me go. They need me.”<br/>Gemshade quickly looked away. Those words struck her spark.<br/>Megatron felt it too. This is Sonica, it always has been, even while he was so cruel to her. He lets go with a sigh, “But stay in my sights. Please.”<br/>“No promises,” Sonica takes off and goes to the table she had been watching. It was the quietest one despite three bots sitting there together.<br/>Starscream watches her with sore optics. He envies Sonica for being able to be mad and utterly displeased with the condition of the silver-bloods.<br/>As he fiddles with the glass they received during Gemshade’s informative talk, he lets his mind haunt him with the memory of that suicide room. It bothers him more than anything he’s ever done or witnessed. As a Decepticon, he’s tortured, killed, betrayed, and many other under-handed stunts without feeling a thing. Why would it disturb him so that these silver-bloods perish by suicide? He couldn’t be more different from them...<br/>But deep, deep down, he knows he identifies with them in a way. What they’ve heard all their lives is all too familiar and similar to what he’s experienced. And he hears them collapse to the ground with empty spark chambers--- not all too different from how they were before. He knows the feeling.<br/>If anyone can help them, Sonica can.<br/>When he lifts his gaze from the cup, it lands on Sonica as she now sits with three strangers. They seem completely engaged in whatever she’s saying. His spark aches with a painful healing.<br/>His savior has moved on from him, to others he doesn’t know. He misses her, he wants her, and knowing she’s far from reach hurts at the same time it liberates. She is...his biggest fan...that put him on top, put him in control, and made him the authority in his life. Though she wouldn’t follow, she would watch him. How she said that, and why, left a scar...where she healed his deepest wound.<br/>On the flip side, it terrifies him. She’s watching...what if he makes another mistake, or fails, or disappoints her? Are there consequences?<br/>Starscream looks at her again, seeing her continuing efforts.<br/>...Then what is he waiting for? Besides, he has wishes to grant.<br/>“Let’s disperse and interview them.”<br/>Megatron and Gemshade turn to him.<br/>“All I want to know is what they used to enjoy. Through this information, I want to visit the Hall of History again and look over the recent laws and the justice system, only to find away to reverse the thinking built around it. From there, we should be able to formulate a plan to start that reversal...under the radar.”<br/>Megatron gets a light smile, “Good plan.”<br/>Starscream stands quickly with a sneer, “Don’t smile at me, creep.”<br/>They watch him walk around their booth to the bar.<br/>“I think it’s working.”<br/>Megatron lifts a brow, “What’s working?”<br/>“Whatever...sentimental weirdness you’re trying on him.” She puts her thumbs up, “Keep trying. This is the most amusing thing I’ve seen since I watched that moron hide from the captain.”<br/>He frowns, “Do you not think I’m sincere?”<br/>“I don’t care if you are, this is fun to watch.” She leans back in the booth against the wall, “First you steal his girl, now you’re trying to earn his forgiveness. What will you do next?”<br/>“Is that your opinion or his?”<br/>“Does it matter?”<br/>He leans in like a predator, “And what do you know about our little group?”<br/>“Enough to know you both love her. Love triangles are always a hook. But you abused them both. I can’t figure how you got Sonica’s affections despite it.”<br/>His slight grin takes the victory, “If you don’t understand that, then you don’t know enough."<br/>Megatron leans back, gets comfortable, and stares her in the eyes. "I didn't earn her affections. I accepted want she was giving me...and then she frankly forgave me the moment I did."<br/>"Quite the leap,"<br/>He still watches her face and she fidgets under his gaze. "What about you, Gemshade?"<br/>"What about me?"<br/>"You've made quite the leap yourself. It wasn't long ago that you cursed this place, now you're helping it."<br/>"You remember that differently. To my memory, I didn't have a choice."<br/>"We never asked you to leave the ship. Sonica is putting forth effort to allow you in public that she wouldn't need to do if you chose to stay hidden."<br/>Gemshade turns her body, thinking about leaving, but where would she go?<br/>"You went so far as to escort us to places that gravely disturb you."<br/>"This scrutiny, is this Starscream's life I'm seeing?"<br/>"You want your kin to be happy. That's selfless."<br/>"Compared to you."<br/>"Gemshade, you can't give what you don't have. Unless you want to share your defiant attitude."<br/>"Shut up."<br/>Megatron doesn’t say a single word and he doesn’t leave. After a while, it gets too awkward with him staring at her that she gets up and leaves.<br/>She steps outside and walks over the side between buildings. The cover should make up for the possibility that Sonica’s mask quits when they’re separated. Gemshade needs a few moments to herself.<br/>In all honesty, she picked a fight with him on purpose. She just wanted to see how far she could go. All her life, she’s been told that if she’s not depressed, she’s evil. Megatron called it defiance, not evil. He’s been evil, he would know it when he saw it.<br/>So it’s just defiance.<br/>Her spark still wants to help her kin. She cares about her new batch of friends. Her spark hasn’t stopped being kind...defying all the lies of Sade... nothing has ever put this specific smile on her face. The burden sheds from her back and she’s free.<br/>Just defiance; the gall to want to be happy.</p><p> </p><p>One of the Sade strides for the throne room in the capital. This alert he received from the loyalists will go straight to the Phantom.<br/>His simplistic design, save the insignia on his chest, is what reveals that he is Sade. The insignia of the crowned Phantom that depicts fog in an abstract way with dots and loosely wavy lines, is the only fanciful appearance on him. Otherwise, his rounded helmet, limbs and body keep the three traditional colors as is customary for all Sade.<br/>He passes the guards and they allow him into the throne room.<br/>The head Sade sits at the desk with only one screen tablet.<br/>“Is it urgent, Number Six?”<br/>He bows, “It is, sir.”<br/>“Proceed.”<br/>“There are four new comers that disturbed a diner about four megacycles ago. They were trying to persuade others to be prideful and evil.”<br/>“New comers. Have they just arrived?”<br/>“That is unknown, sir.”<br/>“Then search the Eye System until you know everything. If I’m going to take this to the Phantom, I need every detail. I want their faces, I want their arrival time, I want their histories and I not only want their location but I want them tracked. Come back when you have all that and more.”<br/>“Understood.” Number Six bows deeper.<br/>“Fix your arrogance while you’re at it. If you weren’t so, you would’ve brought me more than a vague announcement. You’ve wasted my time, I will waste yours. I want to see welding marks the next time you see me. Am I clear?”<br/>Number Six falls to the floor, “You are just, First Sade.”<br/>“Go.”<br/>He obeys and the guards let him phase through the entry wall. Through his act, he looks sorrowed and humbled but it’s only to hide his wrath. One day, he will no longer suffer this.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Entangled</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“That sucked!” Starscream growls and slams a hand on the kitchen counter.<br/>
Sonica throws her arms, “I thought I had them. Now I know silver-bloods are hard to read.”<br/>
“It’s because they weren’t listening to you, they were probing your mind!” Gemshade hangs upside down on the couch, resting her legs on the backing, “Nothing you said, whether it was the right thing or not, reached them or had them. How did you not feel them probing you?”<br/>
“I don’t know!” Sonica’s volume rises, “If I did, I would’ve stopped them right there instead of having to whip-wipe them.”<br/>
Megatron leans against the wall with his arms crossed, “If we look at the brightside, it’s lucky you know how to do that.”<br/>
“Doesn’t matter,” Gemshade drawls, “They remember that we’re outsiders and we were there, trying to poison their minds.”<br/>
She sits up, “Sonica, don’t you realize that you’re trying to undo generations of fixed thinking? Did you really assume that you could just erase that with a pep talk?”<br/>
“Of course not, but it’s a start.”<br/>
“I surprised they leave you in charge of anything.”<br/>
“Thank you.” Sonica deadpans.<br/>
They set that aside and Megatron starts the real discussion.<br/>
“What do we do if they catch us?”<br/>
“Another question,” Sonica rubs at her forehead, “is what are <i>they</i> going to do if they catch us?”<br/>
“If they find your fake files and believe them, they’ll send you to the mysterious Sade castle.” Gemshade hangs upside down again.<br/>
“In case that happens, I’ll take the fall, if needs be.”<br/>
They stare at Megatron; Sonica worries.<br/>
“No, no; no one gets captured, do you hear me?”<br/>
Starscream waves, “I say let him. He has no other use in the plan anyway.”<br/>
Sonica turns on him, “I am captain. Make another comment like that again and I’ll take your rank.”<br/>
“How many leadership roles have you been in, Sonica? Do you think you’re going to rescue everyone by protecting them?” Starscream stalks towards her. “A good leader makes sacrifices. If he’s willing, let him.”<br/>
“No! We stick together. If one of us is revealed, we all are.”<br/>
Megatron shakes his head and speaks the same time Starscream insults her morale, “Sonica.”<br/>
She turns to him, “I am not letting you get captured. We’re going to do this right.”<br/>
“We’ve already misstepped.”<br/>
“I should’ve listened to you...” Sonica buries her face in her hands.<br/>
Megatron pauses, glancing up at the ceiling and into his thoughts. He returns, “No argument there, but there’s no way perform perfectly. Conflict is a natural part of things. Even as a Decepticon, never were my plans perfect.”<br/>
“I’m not sacrificing you. I’ll figure something out.”<br/>
“Sonica,” He takes the few steps to stand in front of her, “if we’re arrested prematurely, I will take the fall to ensure your plan continues.”<br/>
She shakes her head viciously and he stops her with a gentle touch to her face.<br/>
“Rescue me when you’re done. I’ll be alright.”<br/>
“I can’t approve of that. I will make sure we do this right.”<br/>
Gemshade drops her hands to the floor, “Like he just said, we’ve already made an error. There is no way to do this right.”<br/>
“You’re correct, Gemshade,” Starscream walks between Megatron and Sonica; shoving Megatron’s arm up and over his head, “There isn’t a right way but there is a better way.”<br/>
He turns to Sonica with a steeled gaze, “I have ideas that are more subtle but significant. There is a way to reach the silver-bloods who believe they are un-reachable.”<br/>
Sonica is anxious, “What is it?”<br/>
Starscream straightens, “After your recent display and poor judgement, I confess, I hesitate to hand my plans over to you.”<br/>
Gemshade sits up slowly as the atmosphere thickens.<br/>
Sonica’s instant reaction is to defend herself but thinking of Megatron behind her, she doesn’t say a word.<br/>
“I don’t mean to insult, Sonica Doradus.” He approaches cautiously, slightly bowing over the hand on his chest, “Obviously you’re new at this and your spark is in the right place.”<br/>
Megatron stiffens and enunciates his name slowly with a growl.<br/>
“What?” He challenges, “Are you going to defend your darling? Have your affections replaced your senses with blind faith?”<br/>
“You misunderstand, I am protecting her from you, usurper.”<br/>
Starscream stands his ground, “You want her to succeed, don't you? Let me do my job.”<br/>
“Knock it off! Both of you!” Sonica pushes back on their chests.<br/>
Gemshade sits cross-legged on the couch, smothering her amusement.<br/>
The tension rises. No one moves except Sonica who rubs her forehead hard with her fingertips.<br/>
ConFlicT iS a nAtuRAl PaRT Of ThiNGs.<br/>
When she looks up, she turns to Starscream. “What if I offer you charge over all details concerning your plan?”<br/>
Their gazes mingle and seem to circle each other. He’s not manipulating, he’s thinking. None the less, she’s guarded and concerned.<br/>
“That works until a subject comes up in a grey area. We won’t always have time to argue.”<br/>
“You’re asking for full command. You won’t tell me your plan unless I give it up.”<br/>
He chuckles, “That does sound like me, but I ultimately leave the decision to you, dear Sonica. But allow me to share this fact: a powerful gun in the hands of a less-than-amateur shooter, is a hazard; not a soldier.”<br/>
Sonica tucks away the pain of that blow and maintains eye contact.<br/>
“It’s fact, not an insult, Sonica.” He leans closer and brushes her face with a knuckle, “But you’re already aware and I think that’s why you granted me rank. If you really believe in me like you said you did, let me take this.”<br/>
Megatron smacks Starscream’s hand away and a stare-down ensues. “Sonica, I strongly suggest you take time to think about this.”<br/>
“And how much time do you think we have, Master? They’re more than likely out there searching for us. My plan will cover this up if you let me take command.”<br/>
“Sonica,” Megatron speaks again, “let’s talk about it.”<br/>
“He’s right, Megs.”<br/>
“Don’t do it.”<br/>
Starscream sneers, “Let her speak for herself. You not liking me isn’t a good enough reason anymore.”<br/>
“I don’t trust you and for good reasons.”<br/>
Sonica pushes against their chests but they don’t move, “Megatron, please let me do this.”<br/>
“Let’s talk about it or I’ll pick you up and carry you off to be sure we do.”<br/>
She walks out from between them, “You know what, this is actually between you two.”<br/>
“What?” They both exclaim in unison.<br/>
“You heard me.” She partially sits on the back of the couch and crosses her arms, “I’m underqualified as captain. That, I know we can agree on. So my two options are you two--- and that’s where all the trust issues are. I’ll follow who ever I chose and I expect you two to do the same.”<br/>
Gemshade makes some small claps, “If you need to throw furniture, just say so and I’ll get out of the way.”<br/>
Sonica whirls around and glares.<br/>
“What? This is so interesting.”<br/>
“Shut up,”<br/>
Her steel glare makes Gemshade yield.<br/>
The mechs turn back to each other, ignoring them.<br/>
“Well Starscream, how much time do we actually have? We both know that I will not be subjected to your command.”<br/>
“Sure, you win this stand off and we’ll all perish together because you don’t know what you’re doing either.”<br/>
“I ruled the Decepticons for millenia.”<br/>
“Do you think ruling the silver-bloods is going to solve anything?”<br/>
“Do you? That’s your plan isn’t it? I know you well enough to be sure.”<br/>
“We’ll see what happens. Our focus is what to do in the next few cycles--- preferably before they come kicking our wall in. My ulterior motives’ end result is hardly consequential if there is no plan!”<br/>
“It will certainly influence how you handle those under your command--- including me, whom you’ve made known to all, that you do not forgive or like. I may have volunteered to go down for the group, but that was under Sonica’s command. If the misfortune and error occur that you’re placed in command and the same circumstance befalls us, I will take you down with me.”<br/>
Starscream is losing his stance, “Misfortune and error... I don’t need to explain myself to you. Put Mega-slag in charge and I’ll be as obedient as you want me to be, until you’re all arrested. I will have no qualms leaving you all here on this fragged up planet.”<br/>
They watch him storm off.<br/>
“There,” Megatron straightens, “his fit is over and surprisingly reasonable. I’ll take charge, Sonica.”<br/>
She shakes her head, “He’s a traitor again.”<br/>
“He always was,”<br/>
“That’s not what you thought earlier.”<br/>
“That was before my life was in danger. You didn’t like the idea of me getting carried off to the Sade’s castle but somehow you’re alright putting me in Starscream’s charge?”<br/>
Sonica stares him straight in the eyes, “I don’t want to put any of us at risk. I also don’t want to make anyone do anything they are completely opposed to.”<br/>
She stands, “I’ll keep command. Pack your things, we’re all leaving Chrysalis.”<br/>
Gemshade leaps to her feet, “Hey! I gave you my only possession as incentive to follow through on this. Now you’re quitting on me?”<br/>
“You had the right idea before, Gemshade. I’m sorry I didn’t listen. I should’ve known that we were doomed to fail because we can’t work as a team. We’re too wounded to trust one another and I won’t risk our sparks in attempts to make things work.”<br/>
Megatron watches her walk down the hall for a couple of her things. On the way there, she knocks on the wall of Starscream’s room and gives him the same order. He obeys.<br/>
They phase through the wall of the house for the last time. Megatron lets his mind linger on the spot just outside, where he and Sonica talked and bonded that night. It feels like a lifetime ago now and he wonders if that moment still carries. In a way, he feels he let Sonica down. He notices right away that her steps are heavier with each movement forward.<br/>
Starscream takes his position in the ship without being asked and starts firing up the ship. Sonica takes her place silently at the captain consoles, numbly gazing into her emptying future.<br/>
Megatron convinces himself that he may somehow help with that. Maybe being with him will be enough?<br/>
He looks over at Starscream shakes his head at him. It’s all his fault. “Are you sulking because you didn’t get your way, Starscream? You’ll abandon your ambitions just like that?”<br/>
Starscream stares him firmly in the optics while adjusting the final settings for lift off, “Whatever will get me the slag away from the likes of you, I don’t fragging care. I’m more capable at sticking to my ambitions than you are at behaving like a good guy. ‘Sorry’ my aft.”<br/>
“It’s your consistencies in stabbing me in the back that doomed this expedition from the start. You couldn’t even trust Sonica to make a good decision because it’s not how you would do it. You’d rather I be terminated, but because she disagrees, you have to usurp her, like the fragged, two-faced slag that you are.”<br/>
“How about you both shut the frag up?” Gemshade snaps and her voice box waivers, “I’m going to be the last of my kind thanks to ALL of you. Frag you all.”<br/>
Megatron adjusts the lift off and punches in the coordinates, “Save your flattery until we part ways.<br/>
“Captain Sonica, we wait for Cybertron to send a space bridge.”<br/>
It’s quiet and his spark drops into his feet.<br/>
From his peripheral, he sees the shock on Gemshade’s and Starscream’s faces at her empty chair.<br/>
There’s only one curse word that’s worse than all the others combined and Megatron barks it.<br/>
Gemshade balks at his comment then shrugs with her arms, “She was just there! I saw her! I’m not crazy!”<br/>
Starscream starts turning the ship around, “She can do illusions, Gemshade. Did you forget?”<br/>
“Slimey."<br/>
“Starscream, will you scan for her energy signature? I’ll land the ship.”<br/>
“Only because you asked nicely. It doesn’t make you captain.”<br/>
“I know it doesn’t. We have to get her back.”<br/>
Gemshade glances between them, folds her arms confidently and smirks. She sees it and pushes, “What does she think she’s doing? Oh Primus, you don’t think she’s running off to try her original plan again, do you?”<br/>
“Not now, Gemshade,” Starscream searches urgently over the scanner readings.<br/>
“Wait, does she know that my people still hate Doradus? She wouldn’t try to win them over by revealing herself, would she?”<br/>
Megatron clenches his teeth. That is how she slithered her way into the Decepticon hierarchy.<br/>
Gemshade pretends to clutch her head in agony, “I’m suddenly remembering how she swooned about working crowds with...whatever it was... and I don’t think I told her about the Day of Silence. It soon follows our Independence day.”<br/>
Megatron mutters that curse again.<br/>
Starscream tries to keep his tone level though he frantically types in different scanning options, of which are depleting quickly to the ending result that she’s lost, “She’ll be fine. She’s not that...stupid.”<br/>
Megatron darts between ends of the console and lands the ship. “Starscream, did you find her?”<br/>
“No, she must be burning silver. None of the scanners can find her.”<br/>
Gemshade bites her lip, trying to hide her smile, “You guys are out of silver energon, aren’t you? It’s up to me to find her then.”<br/>
“We’re still disguised well,” Megatron starts as they follow him to the boarding door.<br/>
“We’ll search in the air if she’s not in the house.” Starscream finishes.<br/>
“Sounds good,” She skips off the ship and into the open flats.<br/>
They notice.<br/>
Starscream leans slightly towards Megatron as they watch, “Do you think she knows something we don’t?”<br/>
“It’s hard to say. Whether she’s genuinely glad to be back or finds amusement in our concern, she behaves the same.”<br/>
Starscream smirks at that as they stop a ways from the ship that’s close enough to see the house. They just see the slight glow of Gemshade stepping inside.<br/>
“Sonica did this on purpose,” Starscream grumbles, “We could’ve left and gone our separate ways and then she does this.”<br/>
“She’s almost as dramatic as you are.”<br/>
He makes a face and slowly turns his direction, “Hardly. She’s as stubborn as your retardation. I hope she makes you more miserable than this Primus-forsaken mass. I know that will make her happy.”<br/>
Megatron shakes his head slowly, “Whatever. At the least, I know I can make her happy.”<br/>
Starscream’s fist clench as he barely smothers a yell, “Pride is not the same as charm.”<br/>
“Wanting something someone has that you don’t, is called envy, Starscream. You should mind your behavior.”<br/>
“Good to know, I wondered if you knew what ‘envy’ meant.”<br/>
It’s quiet as they wait for Gemshade to give them a signal. The time span for it is too long.<br/>
“It’s possible the Sade are waiting in there to capture us.” Starscream thinks out loud.<br/>
Megatron nods, “I’m thinking through our options...unless you think yours is better and will get rid of me in the process.”<br/>
“Of course it does,” he forces a grin around his irritation, “you blast the wall down. They run out to arrest you, I free the femmes and leave you behind to fend for yourself.”<br/>
“The only alteration to that plan is I recommend you’re in the air... then if everything blows to atoms, you can fry your engines in cowardice as you flee like the recreant you are.”<br/>
“Sounds good to me. Wait, were you trying to insult me there? I didn’t feel it because it wasn’t your fist.”<br/>
Megatron takes the first running start before he leaps, transforms, and flies over the distance to the house. Starscream is close behind and stays in the air while Megatron lands in front of the back wall. He aims his ion cannon diagonally, hoping not to fire directly into the center where he guesses they may be, cuffed and gagged.<br/>
He fires and an arched hole forms in the wall where it was hit. The debris clatters to the side but otherwise, it’s quiet. Megatron makes an arm and hand signal to Starscream to let him know he’s going in.<br/>
He aims his cannon in the hole before he takes front for a visual.<br/>
Sonica and Gemshade sit on the couch with glasses of energon.<br/>
Megatron drops his arm to his side and motions an all-clear to Starscream. He shortly lands afterwards and Megatron steps in. He walks over to make sure she’s real this time. Sonica lets him lightly push her shoulder. Starscream walks in and grumbles aloud.<br/>
Megatron crosses his arms, “We work together just fine...mostly; as long as we know you’re in charge.”<br/>
Sonica smiles, “Good to know.”<br/>
She takes a sip and stands, “I’ll continue to hold authority as given to me by Ultra Magnus but I share it with Starscream when we are in the operation field of his plan. If someone is harmed or captured, I will assume full command. In the event that it is I who is captured or harmed, the evacuation and defense protocols will be Megatron’s jurisdiction. If he and I are unavailable, then fly like comets; get out of here. Lastly, if anyone in the group refuses orders from anyone, they will take full responsibility of the consequences and the acting commander will not be held accountable unless it is by clear definition, an attempt on their life. In such cases, I will be judge and if I find you guilty I will send you away.”<br/>
Sonica glances around them, “Agreed?”<br/>
“That was surprisingly good thinking,” Gemshade shatters the stunned quiet.<br/>
She smiles at her, “Well it wasn’t hard once I had the quiet time to think. Plus, for appearance’s sake, I’m hoping it looked like we left the planet.”<br/>
“Impressive,” Starscream frowns.<br/>
Megatron sets his hands on his hips, “If you had that figured out, why all the theatrics?”<br/>
“Theatrics?” Sonica looks offended and faces him, “I needed YOU two to know that you had some things in common and could work together. From now on, when you’re spitting insults, you’ll remember how I almost sent you back to Cybertron while I worked here alone. Those ‘theatrics’, are why you two are here and are no longer biting each other’s heads off.<br/>
“Besides that, do you even know who I am, Megs?”<br/>
Megatron gives her a look but a smile leaks through and softens it.<br/>
“Question,” Gemshade gets Sonica’s attention, “Why have a good plan towards these two, but not my kin?”<br/>
“I know Megatron and Starscream quite well,” She nods, “and I think I’m more emotionally invested in the silver-bloods and can’t seem to think straight.”<br/>
Megatron scoffs then starts to chuckle, “Alright then.”<br/>
Sonica nods to him, “Let’s begin.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Tides</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Megatron doesn’t hide his anxiousness well and he’s all-too aware of it.<br/>Right after Sonica commanded they proceed with Starscream’s plan, the slippery flyer would only divulge it to Sonica. She wasn’t worried in the least and agreed. Gemshade tried to talk to him as he paced but he ignored her until they came back out thirteen cycles later.<br/>She was more excited than before; something completely lifted her spirits and she announced her confidence in his plan then ordered that they go to the ship for supplies.<br/>As she led the way, Starscream eyed him and brushed off his chest plating, “I know I can make her happy.”<br/>“Make sure you’re clear on the difference between happy and amused. Wouldn’t want you to look stupid because you couldn’t tell.”<br/>The inappropriate gesture from Starscream was satisfying.<br/>However, it was fleeting. The moment she ordered them to remove the speakers from the bridge of their vessel, he had suspicions. His guess embarrassed him. Is it too late to back out of this? Would Sonica agree to such a humiliating plan?<br/>He has yet to know for sure as she refused to tell him what they were preparing for.<br/>She probably didn’t have to. Now that Megatron sets the speakers under the table they sit at in the restaurant, and Sonica airlinks her vocal amplifier to them, he knows and the suspicions are confirmed. She insisted in complete soberness of mind and here they are.<br/>And they’re being watched.<br/>Starscream sits at the bar, part of the audience, along with Gemshade who sits at another near-by table. Megatron’s orders, which Starscream gave him, is to help set up then disappear and act as look out. He’s not looking for attackers, per say, but he’s to carefully watch the expressions of the bots listening and to report later with accurate details.<br/>Sonica uses her illusions to pull out a guitar, plucks a couple strings with a simple, happy, and attention-getting tune through the speakers. She turns the rest of the heads within the diner.<br/>She shies away and pretends to fight for courage, “I...I’m honoring someone...h-he’s in a better place now and I promised...I would share this...silly thing I do. P-please let me and then I’ll stop if you want me to...”<br/>Lightly and slowly, her shaking hands hover over the strings. They nudge them a little and the hint of sound goes through the speakers.<br/>The silver-bloods lean in intently.<br/>Sonica takes a deep but nervous breath like she’s on the brink of crying. Then she plays.<br/>It’s soft like the fluttering ends of a star’s light and it twinkles as they do in the black abyss. Her voice joins the flow like waves in a nebula. She sings about the uncertainty and heartache that a lonely future holds before building the music into the chorus of hope: you rescued me and I thank you. The gratitude is purest through her mostly closed optics but the pain wrings out under the arch of her brow as all of the song’s emotion spills from her spark and soaks into the words. The tune continues to twinkle happily as she closes with a genuine smile. Thanking the kindness that saved her, and honoring the love she lived for.<br/>Sonica stops and no one moves but her as she shakes more putting her guitar away. The frozen movements turn into cycles and she worries deeply.<br/>Megatron debates whether to clap or... but he doesn’t have the orders to...<br/>Gemshade stands and stops Sonica from hurrying out.<br/>Now the audience moves but the intense and fearful fascination doesn’t allow more than head turns.<br/>Sonica stops at the door, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you all...”<br/>“No, you didn’t.” Gemshade breathes and the room relaxes a touch. “In fact...is there more?”<br/>She debates this, staring at the ground while the case wiggles at her side from the quivering of her hand. Sonica starts and stops a few times before committing to speak, then nodding instead.<br/>“Will you play again? If not today, tomorrow? Same time?”<br/>“I...I don’t know...I’m not very good.”<br/>Starscream leans forwards, putting on his best act, “Please say you will.”<br/>A couple others echo him and Megatron sees one of them smile.<br/>Sonica cups a hand over her mouth, to hide her smile no doubt, but the touched pieces of her spark glisten in the silver of her eyes. “If...if you insist...it would honor him all the more.”<br/>Gemshade walks up and carefully embraces her, “Thank you.”</p><p> </p><p>Megatron cleans up afterwards, as previously ordered by Starscream, and as he does, he listens to the awe and excited whispers of the diner guests. He catches a few of them watching him curiously but senses no threats as he leaves after Sonica, who waited outside for him. Starscream and Gemshade are to meet them at the house later.<br/>Sonica managed to hold it in until they got there.<br/>“MEGS! Did you see how happy they were?”<br/>He smiles his widest and brightest, “One of them smiled.”<br/>“Really?! And I missed it?!”<br/>“You were busy staying in character, which was marvelous, by the way.”<br/>Sonica swoons, “One of them smiled. I’m so happy. This is why I sing and dance, Megs. This feeling... are you feeling it?”<br/>“It’s possible,” He chuckles, “you’re contagious.”<br/>“One of them smiled!” She roars as she bends back and throws her arms out.<br/>Soon after, Starscream and Gemshade phase through.<br/>The femmes immediately lay eyes on each other and Gemshade starts rambling and praising the music like it's a new god. Some of her comments reveal that she didn’t know what music was until she heard Sonica’s piece in the diner.<br/>Starscream waves at them like he’s grouchy but a trace of a proud and touched smile lines his mouth before he turns for his room.<br/>“Wait Scremlin!”<br/>“I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”<br/>“We need to celebrate!” Gemshade looks angered.<br/>He's not intimidated though, “Later, if I drink anymore tonight, I’ll be over-energized.”<br/>He lost.<br/>Next thing they knew, they were buzzing all over that they could barely see straight. Gemshade much earlier passed out as her body hasn’t yet adjusted to the surge of energy she gets from regular energon.<br/>“It was genius, wasn’t it?” Starscream leans back against Sonica’s legs while she’s seated on the couch next to Megatron. “I didn’t want Gemshade to know because I wanted her reaction to be pure. As a silver-blood herself, I needed her to express her feelings--- the silver blood’s feelings. It was a gamble but measuring her face told me all I needed to know.”<br/>Sonica giggles then suddenly shifts to dramatic, “And it’s even better because I get to sing...for a higher purpose.”<br/>The three of them chuckle together for a fleeting moment.<br/>Near the end of it, Sonica makes a strange sound. They pause as their slow minds have to replay and process, then they burst into a new, boosted laughter. They wake Gemshade in the process and without asking or knowing, she joins them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Creeping Change</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Number Six disconnects from the telepathic link to the loyalists in frustration. They’ve taken back everything they’ve said about the disturbance saying the offenders have repented and they looked up the “new comers” and it turns out they’re native to the planet.<br/>
With this error, Number Six has two options: return to the Head Sade with bleeding wounds to beg forgiveness, or, self termination.<br/>
It’s hardly a debate.<br/>
Number Six smirks to himself and decides to go to the Sade castle. Self termination, it is.</p>
<p>Sonica ends her song about withstanding roto-storms with a simple lyric encouraging one to fly with them...and never come down.<br/>
The silver-bloods don’t know that clapping can be complimentary so an awkward silence follows before they turn to one another and whisper praises. Gemshade started the direct comments to Sonica and after repeating that last song three times, they excitably told Sonica what they thought of her beautiful symphony. After the fourth repeat, the silver bloods began singing along softly.<br/>
Now that she packs up again, a few silver-bloods want to know about the instrument and where she got the idea for such a thing.<br/>
Starscream knew they would ask and Sonica has known the cover story for a while now.<br/>
“Like I said,” He began that while ago in the lounge area of the house, “the government is something like a theocracy. Though they have the crowned Phantom, the Sade are in charge most everything else the hierarchy doesn’t bother with. If we’re to counter that...”<br/>
Megatron lifted in head and nodded approvingly, “We need to introduce a new religion.”<br/>
Starscream frowned and uncomfortably nodded back, “Yes, something like that.”<br/>
Then he gave Sonica the story she should tell them:<br/>
“I..I would tell you if you could believe me. I don’t know. I might be half crazy. D-don’t worry about it.”<br/>
“Please?” One of silver-bloods beg as she lets him hold it on his lap.<br/>
“I...um...well I...” Sonica interlocks her shaky hands, “I...dreamt it?”<br/>
The wide-eyed surprise of the little group surrounding her makes her nervous. She back-pedals...<br/>
“Like I said, I must be half crazy...or all-crazy...just forget it, please. I don’t want to harm anyone or get them in trouble...I’m just a freak. Ignore me, please.”<br/>
“Wait,” Gemshade sets a hand on her shoulder, “you just got an image of it inside your head?”<br/>
Starscream sits just outside the group, watching anxiously.<br/>
Sonica glances at her and shrugs deeply between her shoulders, “No...there...was more to it but forget it. It was just me, I guess.”<br/>
Gemshade stares at the guitar again, “You dreamt of a beautiful instrument that makes pleasant sounds by simple vibrations, along with a design to amplify and alter the sounds. On top of that, you learn how to put it all together, into one of the most indescribable moments of my life. Are you sure it was ‘just a dream’?”<br/>
The group exchanges glances. They’re nervous but Starscream is more so.<br/>
Sonica takes the guitar, apologizing profusely and putting it away. “I...I won’t come back again. Again I’m so sorry for bothering you all...”<br/>
They let her run out and the quiet leaves them ruminating.<br/>
Starscream keeps his eyes down and tries to listen in on their thoughts. He gets anxious and fearful pieces; that’s all he dares to dig for. He empties his glass of the coraltine, hoping it’ll knock him out or depress his worrying.<br/>
Megatron walks to the door and the silver-bloods look up again.<br/>
“Hey,” One calls for him and he turns, “who are you?”<br/>
Starscream delivers a threatening stare; don’t say ANYthing.<br/>
Megatron doesn’t seem to notice, “I’m nobody.”<br/>
The one that held the guitar stands cautiously, “Are you following Eclipse around? Do you plan to harm her?”<br/>
Starscream’s anxiety spikes and he tries harder to stab Megatron with his gaze; walk away, Walk Away, WALK AWAY!<br/>
Megatron balks, “Never. I would never dishonor her for saving me.”<br/>
He almost backflips. Now his eyes are wide and angry. Megatron better notice if he wants to live.<br/>
The silver-blood that stands startles with the rest of them and they exchange suspicious whispers<br/>
Starscream clutches his head with one hand and tries to lazily whirl the glass around his finger. The idea is to look drunk but he’s not sure it’s working.<br/>
Megatron looks down and nervously taps his thigh with his fingertips, “I know what it sounds like to you. I should be terminated for such dishonor...but I hope I redeem myself somehow...by serving her, repaying her...”<br/>
Starscream dares to peek and sees some pure emotion in his downcast gaze.<br/>
“I thought being saved meant I was weak,” Megatron suddenly seems to notice his staring audience, “But I didn’t feel shame like I thought I would, nor weakness, but instead...hope.”<br/>
Megatron dismisses his speech, “I don’t care what the rest of you think. I’m doing what I feel is right and I will die doing it.” He leaves them with that and phases through the wall to follow Sonica, as planned.<br/>
Starscream has to smother a sigh and it gives him a headache.<br/>
“Hope...”<br/>
He follows the voice to the silver-blood as he sits back down.<br/>
The silver-blood buries his face in his hands, “I forgot the word existed that way.”<br/>
Gemshade and the rest of the group look somber, yet relieved in a way.<br/>
Starscream dares to let out that sigh slowly and soundlessly. Megatron got slaggin’ lucky.</p>
<p>Gemshade and Starscream take the long way back by walking.<br/>
The icsa has returned to sand under the heatwave that came from nowhere and now the sand rolls in the water that splashes slightly under their footfalls then streams off their heels as they move forwards.<br/>
“You don’t look like the walking type.”<br/>
He sighs, “You don’t have to follow me, you know. I know how to find my way back.”<br/>
“Yes, I know.”<br/>
“Do whatever you want.” Starscream is starting to feel the tension loosing from all the stress back at the diner. When he gets back, Megatron is going to have a piece of his mind.<br/>
Gemshade lets out a sigh of relief, “Life is starting to come together.”<br/>
He bites for the distraction, “Why would you think that? We have a lot of work ahead of us teetering between a 50/50 chance. I wouldn’t say it’s together just yet.”<br/>
“Just thinking of the chance that...after getting banished, I run into you guys and now I’m seeing my kin smile for the first time. The odds...the coincidences...whatever, are doing good so far.”<br/>
“I like games of chance but I know better to rely on it.”<br/>
“Right,” Gemshade nudges him, “Fate.”<br/>
“Fate is something you create,”<br/>
“Says my wish granter,”<br/>
“I think you know better by now.”<br/>
“I do. Definitely a wish granter.”<br/>
He gives up with a roll of his eyes, “Fine then.”<br/>
As his mind drifts towards tomorrow’s plans, he starts again. “For the next megacycle, I could use those friends you talked about. They aren’t allowed to know who you are but if you can be sure they’d like Eclipse’s performances, we should bring them. Since Sonica had to cancel at the diner like she did, I need to come up with way to bring her back. Hopefully, the word is spreading but if it isn’t, let’s get your friends to come.”<br/>
“Not possible. Sorry, Starscream.”<br/>
“What? You said you had better friends than me.”<br/>
“It's denial.”<br/>
“Did they abandon you when you were banished?”<br/>
“No, I was banished for what I did trying to save my last living friend.”<br/>
Starscream nods softly, “I see. Are you actually going to tell me this time?”<br/>
Gemshade wears a strange smile and shrugs, “I don’t feel so bad anymore.”<br/>
He raises a brow, “Because my hands are filthier than yours? Is that what you’re getting at?”<br/>
“I terminated a Sade.”<br/>
His eyes widen.<br/>
“They forced her to choose how she would be terminated when they found the games she wasn’t supposed to have. They chose ‘assisted suicide’ for her and I tried to save her. I got so angry I stabbed the Sade dragging her off.”<br/>
Starscream is a little impressed, “And all they did was banishment?”<br/>
“Which is worse than death here. Death is a cleanser and they didn’t think me deserving. My friend did nothing wrong.” Gemshade smiles at a memory, “We live in her house. She started me on this journey and I plan to finish it with her.”<br/>
Her wishes make more sense now. It’s not just to save her people, but to avenge the ones taken from her.<br/>
“I just suddenly remembered...” She stops walking.<br/>
He comes to late halt and turns to face her. “If you left something at the diner, get it next megacycle.”<br/>
“No. I was just reflecting on my banishment. I realized I don’t remember my sentencing but I...”<br/>
He watches her optics scan them over, the surprise still fixed on her expression.<br/>
“And what?”<br/>
“I went into the Sade castle.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Of course you went to the Sade castle,” Sonica talks to Gemshade, “that’s where all sentences are performed. Did you block that from memory or something?”<br/>
“Nuh-uh.”<br/>
“Your fuel ring was bent, did someone hit you hard enough to knock you out?”<br/>
Gemshade begins to reflect when Starscream takes over.<br/>
“Doesn’t matter as long as she remembers the layout. It’ll be most useful should one of us get captured and sent there because they delivered lines that were not previously approved by me.” His glare is straight up at Megatron.<br/>
“You forget, you are not the only tactician in the group.”<br/>
Starscream squares up, “You forget that I am in charge of this operation. All tactics must be run by me for approval.”<br/>
“I didn’t have the time.”<br/>
“Hey,”<br/>
They turn their heads to Sonica.<br/>
“You both have a point, so listen to one another. Be extra cautious about the risks you take, Megatron. Starscream, as much as you want to, you can’t control everything. We like your plan and have no intention of foiling it.”<br/>
She turns back to Gemshade, “Have a map for us?”<br/>
“Not the kind that will be useful.” She taps her chin, “I have the hallways to the Judgement Room and my holding cell. That’s it.”<br/>
Sonica chuckles, “That does have some use. Who was your judge?”<br/>
“The...Phantom...”<br/>
They lean in.<br/>
“What does the Phantom look like?”<br/>
Gemshade rolls her eyes, “Dramatics with the lights prevented a clear look.”<br/>
“Hmm,” Sonica frowns, “Any details you can give us?”<br/>
“The Phantom’s voice was crackled...and he? she? didn’t move much. But the Phantom was big...stood by a simple couch.”<br/>
“Anything else?” Starscream prompts, “How did your sentencing go? What did the Phantom say?”<br/>
“ ‘You are hereby banished to immediate exhile’. They hauled me away, put me in a self destructing pod and launched my aft out of here.”<br/>
“So quick,” Starscream ponders, “Not very telling either.”<br/>
“Until we see a huge bot with a raspy voice,” Sonica giggles at her own humor, “We should prepare means to capture prisoners so we have somewhere to stuff the Phantom once we jump him.”<br/>
Megatron is amused by her comment and shares it with Starscream, “I think that’s a good plan.”<br/>
“You’re whipped.”<br/>
He glares, “You learned that from the Humans, didn't you?”<br/>
“Yes he did,” Sonica answers for him and dismisses it with a wave, “Moving on.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Number Six walks to enter the Sade Castle through the secret ground bridge behind the Phantom throne. The desk of the First Sade is in between entry walls of the hall and the actual throne room. Number Six has already been through there and drags the First Sade behind him up the five steps to the side of the simplistic but tall, white quartz throne.<br/>
His victim doesn’t bleed..except on the inside where Number Six crushed his spark chamber. The First Sade was busy with a call from the Phantom; it was the only opportunity Number Six could get. The Phantom opened the secret ground for him shortly after.<br/>
Six pulls the lifeless husk through and the Phantom stands next to the new recruit in front of the stasis chambers.<br/>
The Phantom pivots on his heel, “Welcome, First Sade Six.”<br/>
The one-eyed recruit glances over the Phantom's shoulder.<br/>
Six bows, “I’ve brought you a new body, proving my loyalty.”<br/>
“I see that, you idiot.”<br/>
“I beg your forgiveness, Phantom. It has been some time since I’ve seen you and did not realize you had regained your sight.”<br/>
The Phantom strokes the one-eyed recruit with his knuckles, “Shockwave has greatly helped with that.”<br/>
Shockwave turns back to the monitors and tries to ignore the contact. Last time he tried to avoid it, the Phantom did something to him. He’s actually not sure what; the Sade erased everything except the disgusted feeling in his core. That alone keeps him from trying to remember it and it’s all the threat he needs beyond his missing cannon arm.<br/>
Six tries not to look envious of the new recruit’s earned affections. “What more may I do for you, dear Phantom?”<br/>
His new eyes lock on him from the dark. “Keep the order, of course. Was that not clear when you assumed your place as First Sade?”<br/>
“My dearest Phantom, I could do much more for you...”<br/>
“Every First Sade starts with the dull tasks. If you can endure that, then I know your loyalty is true. Until then, do as I say and find another member for the Sade Order.”<br/>
Six goes back the way he came, disappointed but motivated. He will find a new member quickly. He only needs to visit one of the underground cleansing buildings.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Spirit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gemshade didn’t want to be here for this piece of the plan and that leaves Sonica, Starscream and Megatron to brave this hellish building again.<br/>
“Are you sure, Starscream?” Sonica asks yet again.<br/>
Starscream shakes his head, “You didn’t even see what we saw and I’m sure of this.”<br/>
Megatron sends a little static as he strokes her back, “This is where you need to be and you need to be...reachable.”<br/>
Starscream rolls his optics. Gemshade left him to be third wheel. Squeak, squeak.<br/>
Sonica bolsters her determination over her weak courage and she walks in alone without her guitar.<br/>
It’s not hard to look like the others who sit in chains with cuts all over their arms and legs. She finds an empty space and kneels there. Trauma threatens to cease her mind and spark as she watches her own hands reach for the cuffs on the floor. She steps into a virtual reality of what the silver-bloods experience daily...making up stellar cycles and longer... They’ve justified this torture. It’s normal in the most horrendous way Sonica dares to fathom without getting sucked in. The gravity of this is tangible and she feels it.<br/>
What’s worse, her mind reminds her of sitting in the small cave in the side of the Well of AllSparks...when Optimus went in alone...and she spent three solar cycles wallowing in despair. The memory is refreshed and Sonica has to stop. She drops the chains and feels heads turn.<br/>
Her mind defaults to her logic circuits under their scrutiny, and she quickly finds a way to continue in the way she has started. Sonica has to calm herself the best she can and lets the rest carry in her singing.<br/>
She starts small and soft, lets her sorrow for these silver-bloods choke her, before she forces herself to do it for their sakes...for their lives.<br/>
The words slowly build. Her pleas for forgiveness arch over the silence and awe that fills the room. She sings to her hero to forgive her for giving up and lying down to die...that living a life of pain is as worthy as an honorable death. She promises to face her fears and sorrows if his spark will lend her strength and company...and never leave. The lyrics hang with curses against dreams and the lies of ease before she tappers off with the essence of hope: I feel you with me now. Thank you.<br/>
She feels a hand on her shoulder and she looks up at a stranger and flinches.<br/>
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, I’m sorry.”<br/>
“It’s alright,” Sonica tries a smile, “You just weren’t who I was expecting.”<br/>
The silver-blood thinks about her comment but only for a moment, “W...what did you just...do?”<br/>
“Sing?”<br/>
Another silver-blood sits up, “Is that what it was?”<br/>
“Yes,” Sonica slumps and goes with her cover story, “I honor his departure that way. He was the happiest bot I knew.” Her mind thinks of Breakdown, the cover story sounds a lot like him.<br/>
“Happy?” A different silver-blood scoffs, “Prideful.”<br/>
“Maybe he was...” Sonica bites back a flicker of anger, “but he was more thoughtful than I.”<br/>
From her memory, Breakdown smiles upon her walking into the lab. They exchange something about each other’s paint before he looks at her. He sits beside her in the recreation area on the Nemesis, “Did you make a new song?”<br/>
“Yeah.” She grins to herself as she answers him in her mind.<br/>
He waits.<br/>
“Aren’t you supposed to be somewhere?”<br/>
“They can wait.”<br/>
Sonica blinked, “ 'They' being Starscream and...”<br/>
“Don’t worry. I think he finally likes me. I’ll be fine. I really want to hear your song. It's sweetest when it's fresh out of your mind.”<br/>
Sonica smiles to herself with all the silver-bloods watching, “He would inconvenience himself to be sure I felt listened to...I could make him happy simply by singing and playing my instrument.”<br/>
A few more silver-bloods turn around and a couple of them start asking questions at the same time. As their courtesy battle ensued, Sonica smiled at them all upon instantly feeling the atmosphere lighten.<br/>
When the exchange started to die down, she introduced herself as Eclipse and shook a few hands. They asked where she lived and she told them according to plan. After that, she left the building.<br/>
Megatron mirrors her smile as she steps out, “Seems it went well.”<br/>
Sonica suddenly couldn’t say anything. Emotion hit like a tidal wave and her voice was gone. Her spark felt like it was about to burst.<br/>
In there, she didn’t register that the silver-bloods smiled, asked with bright curiosity, or watched her in wonder. It wasn’t until Megatron said that it went well, did her mind reflect and find the crucial details; the details that filled her spark full and overflowed it with happiness.<br/>
She sang one of the saddest songs she’s ever created...but it made a difference...and it echoes in smiles.</p><p>Number Six steps into one of the punishment facillities, trudging through the suicide room before entering the main area.<br/>
He stops and the shock shudders like fear...<br/>
No one is in here.</p><p> </p><p>Sonic lays against Megatron in their room on the large recharge bed. The glow under them warming her up from the cold winds that blew on her as she performed in the backyard. Utter bliss; the height that life rarely reaches.<br/>
Their small porch acted as a stage as the silver-bloods from the dark building and the diner gathered with chairs and blankets. As they waited outside, she noticed Starscream didn’t look as excited.<br/>
“What’s wrong? This is according to plan.”<br/>
“Yes, yes, it’s fine, I’m just thinking.”<br/>
“About what?”<br/>
“Whether or not you should try a more upbeat song. It’s just coming to my mind now and I haven’t collaborated with you on what song to do and I’m frustrated that we’ll have to skip the opportunity even if the atmosphere is right.”<br/>
“How about an old song you already know?”<br/>
“I can’t think of any and you don’t have time to share the lyrics so I know everything is in order. Besides, I can’t pull my consultant out of the audience to help me clear it.”<br/>
Sonica smiled at him. He and Gemshade have been working so hard on the songs. “I can do a slight improv. There’s a way to pick up the beat for a moment in one of the songs you’ve already approved.”<br/>
Starscream halted like a prank just struck him, “You’re just telling me this now?”<br/>
“Yes-go or no-go?”<br/>
There was almost a smirk, “Wait for the signal from either me or Gemshade.”<br/>
And she did, and he gave a signal to Gemshade with a hand smoothing over his head. She blinked twice for yes before turning to Sonica who watched and waited for her to bite her bottom lip--- the signal to proceed.<br/>
Sonica quickened the tune, just a couple touches, and added a humble hint of gusto and verbratto. The silver-bloods stiffened with shudders as the under-tide swept them into amazement and showed the power of the current. The lyrics specified to the will to carry on and carry the ache as the harder strums to the strings added a physical and contagious wave of determined spite. Time to start living, changing... Everyone felt it; even Starscream.<br/>
Sonica didn’t miss the slight smile under his softly enchanted gaze. For a moment, she saw the real Starscream; the one always looking forward and up, with the talent and motive to not fall among the stars and burn with them--- but rise and burn bright like a sun that planets will gravitate towards. Then he turned to Gemshade who was entranced by the song. He seemed pleased by how easily excitable she was.<br/>
They handed out drinks afterwards and Gemshade became the starter of a bold trend.<br/>
When Starscream first presented the idea, they balked and kept asking if he dared to do it.<br/>
His only retort was: “They need a jolt of shock once in a while. Everything they’re doing now, whether they are aware of it or not, is leaving a percussion that is going to surprise others. If they aren’t rattled a little by their own choices, they can’t face what other silver-bloods are going to throw at them.”<br/>
And that was the premises on which Gemshade was sent out with a glass of energon and not coraltine.<br/>
She gave them her lie immediately after getting the full front of the mass of stares: “I wanted to bury myself so deep, that no one could find me. When I did, I found that poison the Sade told us to avoid. I thought it suitable to complete my task but...I didn’t expect the results. I felt...better.” She invited them to try it if they wished and this time, no takers.<br/>
Starscream seemed satisfied with this; he only wanted them rattled.<br/>
The only downside to the night was Megatron introducing himself, as himself. Starscream didn’t give anyone nicknames as Sonica was to be the only star of the plan. The rest of them where to be mere loyal followers and that was strictly it.<br/>
However, Megatron got a little cornered by a trio of the silver-bloods from the diner and didn’t have time to think of an alias that suited him. That sent Starscream into a fit-fest and he stormed into his room to accept it and think of ways around it.<br/>
While he did that, Sonica took some time in their room and started to reflect over the night’s events and warm up from the cold at the same time.<br/>
Chrysalis is suddenly the most beautiful place in the known galaxy. There are monumental and beautiful changes happening here and she gets to be a part of it.<br/>
Megatron joined her shortly after and heightened her bliss with an embrace of static after hearing her thoughts. She melted. A sense of belonging embraced them as they traced and stroked the contours of one another’s figures. The static energized their circuits, excited the energon in their veins, and petted their sparks with love and pleasure. They synced and followed each other’s movements; natural, easy, and fulfilling. No one bothered them the whole time they absorbed one another’s contact.<br/>
So they lay there, finished for the moment, and wondering why.<br/>
“His twisted little mind does have to work harder than ours.”<br/>
“Be nice.”<br/>
“Facts aren’t respecters of persons.”<br/>
“Insults aren’t facts.”<br/>
“Am I wrong?”<br/>
“Mostly.” She tilts her head to show her teasing smirk, “It’s his twisted mind that has got us this far.”<br/>
“Really?” He challenges and sits up slightly, leaning closer to her face, “If I had known that this planet had never heard such a talent as yours, I would’ve thought to slowly introduce it as well.”<br/>
“He learned about this music-less fact the same time you did. He took on a morosely cultured society, only with the idea that music would help.”<br/>
Their optics are all that speak in the pause.<br/>
“I still think he’s a less-than-trustful moron.”<br/>
“Could that be why he doesn’t accept your apologies?” She grins and lightly pats his face, seeing he has no retort to that. “I don’t disagree with your impressions of him but as someone who has dared to believe in the difficult, I defend the positive potentials every bot holds.”<br/>
Megatron sobers; that includes him. He reflects and it churns out some questions, “You believed in me even then?”<br/>
Sonica adjusts and rests more comfortably on his chest, “You ask like it was easy.” She pauses and tries to distract herself drawing circles on his plating, “I have my weaknesses--- as we all do--- and there was a time I felt I had to quit believing and see reality. But I couldn’t completely quit...it hurt too much to do so.”<br/>
“Even with Starscream?”<br/>
“No,” Sonica recalls the night they danced and the last conversation they had while she trained Predaking. “He had a direction I didn’t want to follow. I let him go and that’s different than feeling like you have to quit.”<br/>
Megatron nods and the information easily settles in his mind. As it does, his spark warms and he holds her tighter. “Thank you, Sonica and...I’m sorry to you as well. I just realized I hadn’t properly apologized.”<br/>
“Thank you.” She sends more static over his arms, “That means a lot.”<br/>
He rests his head on her shoulder, “I don’t deserve you.”<br/>
There's a long pause.<br/>
"That was sweet and all, but don't say it again. That’s Doradus’ thing.”<br/>
He smiles and she stands, walking towards the middle of the room.<br/>
“What are you getting up for?”<br/>
“I’m just peeking to see where Starscream and Gemshade are.” Her optics change shades of blue and her eyebrows raise, “Aaanndd... I know why we weren’t interrupted.”<br/>
“Oh?”<br/>
“Consultant... what a load of slag... unless that’s what he considers ‘consulting’.”<br/>
Megatron makes a disgusted face, “I’m sorry I asked.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Sade</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Six, the First Sade, did manage to find another member to join the Sade. It took longer than it should have and the Phantom was outraged to hear that one of the punishment facilities was empty that day.<br/>His new orders are to find out why and he wonders if the diner is what causes them to be too prideful. He already has the written agreements of the Phantom and the Sade on the consensus to close it.<br/>In the mean time, he should try to find some of his most helpful loyalists.</p><p>“If you don’t mind me asking,” Sonica purposely nudges Gemshade sitting on the couch, “Are you and Starscream together?”<br/>Megatron is out trying to gather some intel about the government members and Starscream is scouting the diner to be the mysterious figure that knows about the singing siren, Eclipse. While the mechs are out, the femmes will...gossip.<br/>Gemshade looks bored, “Why care?”<br/>“I’m just curious.” Sonica matches her defensive energy, “Megatron and I had a nice long break without angry one pounding on our wall to gather for a strategy meeting. With my energon sight, I saw the two of you closely together so I’m checking my facts.”<br/>“Spying?”<br/>“Checking, and I’m glad I did. I wouldn’t want to interrupt.”<br/>“How long, exactly, did you ‘check’?”<br/>“Three nanokliks.” Sonica deadpans.<br/>Gemshade’s mouth flattens in a hard line.<br/>“Are you two happy?” She tries a genuine approach.<br/>“Ugh, don’t. It’s not serious.”<br/>“Ah, last night was the first, wasn’t it?”<br/>“Only to shut him up. Why am I telling you this?”<br/>“He can throw the biggest tantrums, I get it.”<br/>“No, he can only talk about you.” Gemshade makes a face like she sees the words that just came out of her mouth. “Stop talking to me, I’m not saying anything else.”<br/>Sonica tries to hide her smirk behind a wave of her hand, “You don’t have to say. I’ve been there.”<br/>She drifts into a memory from one of her sisters, Lortune, who loved a bot that loved someone else. Lortune shared this memory with all the sisters as a cautionary tale and she allowed Sonica to see and feel all the details. In a way, it’s her memory too.<br/>Of course, she doesn’t phrase it like that for Gemshade but illustrates it into a beautiful story.<br/>“You can’t control who you fall for,” Sonica wraps it up neatly, “but you can control how you react. Lortune had to teach herself how to move on when she could see that they were happy. Of course, that’s easier said than done.”<br/>“You think that’s me?”<br/>“What?” Sonica realizes what that whole lecture sounded like, “Oh Primus, I’m sorry. I swear I wasn’t telling you that to tell you to give up on him. I was only trying to say I understand the struggle...”<br/>Gemshade stands, “I don’t care what you think. Even if that was what you were trying to say, I would do it anyway. Let me tell you a story, Sonica: there was a femme that was hopeful and naive because she believed the world could be fixed with this pretend thing called love. She repeatedly had her spark broken by those who blamed themselves for her feelings. A bot killed himself to get away from her. She eventually lost all her friends, all confidence, and finally got kicked off her home world. The end.”<br/>Sonica takes in the pause as Gemshade struggles to find something to do. She pulls out the ring Gemshade gave her as collateral.<br/>“Which one is he?”<br/>Gemshade turns out of frustration but it evaporates on sight. For reasons she can’t explain, she sits back down; her eyes not leaving it. Hesitantly, she points to a larger white piece.<br/>“Zetafreeze,” She chokes out, “He wanted me to be happy...and didn’t feel he was the right choice. His fear was he wouldn’t be able to leave me...so he... He didn’t want anyone else, but staying with me meant making me suffer.”<br/>Sonica takes Gemshade’s hand, “I’m sorry.”<br/>“Don’t be.”<br/>“Well, if you ever decide to open up to Starscream, he’s caring if you can get to his center--- and that’s not easy to do. He worries everyone will betray him the way he does. However, if you can persist and show you believe in him, he becomes someone you can trust. Don’t lean on him and don’t try to rescue him either; just let him be...him.”<br/>“That’s great and all but really I think we’re just playing games.”<br/>Sonica smiles sweetly and shrugs with a shoulder, “That’s how Megs and I started out...and it was really intense. We’ve come a frighteningly long way.”<br/>“I can believe it.”<br/>“And if you’d like,” Sonica giggles, “I can show you.”</p><p> </p><p>Starscream glances about the silver-bloods in the diner. A few familiar faces have come and gone, just to make small talk and ask about the next “gathering”.<br/>One asked a bold question that’s been on his mind, “What are you going to do if the Sade find you? There are loyalists out there who would see your works as evil.”<br/>Of course, he has a plan for this as he’s had to from the beginning. There are a few escape plans in place and the prison under the house is in progress if Megatron would stop getting distracted. Starscream asked Sonica to make sure he’s working on it today and he hopes that’s happening.<br/>Still...if those plans aren’t enough...<br/>Should the Sade discover them, Sonica will no doubt launch a rescue. By Gemshade’s reports, the Sade will take them straight to the castle which they don’t have mapped. That will force Sonica to use her powers--- whether she’s the captive or not--- and that leads to the entire planet knowing that the descendant of their past, evil creator, has returned and attempted to lead them astray. They’ll be executed on sight, if they don’t make it to the ship or space bridge in time, and Chrysalis dies without a word to anyone.<br/>He’s at a grave disadvantage; he doesn’t know who makes up the Sade nor who the Phantom is. Apparently, the Phantom gives up his name upon taking the throne--- a gesture of great humility or something like that. This hole, gapes at Starscream every waking megacycle, and festers in the back of his mind during power downs.<br/>That almost bothers him as much as the lack of an underground-underground. Where are the murderers, thieves, black mailers, spies, and good ol’ snitches? There is no possible way that there’s a planet so pure that it knows nothing of scams and schemes; even the depressing places like this one. Either Gemshade has no idea or...that’s just it, actually: Gemshade wouldn’t know, but there HAS to be a cloak-and-dagger market around here somewhere.<br/>His bets are on the loyalists that silver-blood mentioned. If he can find one, befriend one, then he can get what he needs to undermine all the authorities. Phantom Starscream sounds just a little better than emperor.<br/>However, his luck may not be today. He’s running low on silver energon.<br/>Starscream stands to head home when a booming voice sucks up the soft chatter.<br/>“Under the unified agreement of the Phantom and his servants, the Sade, this diner is closed for purging of complacency and pride. All are ordered to evacuate, any that refuse...” the Sade, flanked by five more, glances over all the optics watching him, “will be arrested for pride and taken for judgement.”<br/>Starscream recognizes the insignia on the armor plate of the leading Sade member. The extra dot on the lower right side is all that marks the First of the Sade. He rarely leaves the castle or throne room, save to look for new members or to announce a new law. Gemshade has shown him most of her memories; especially ones concerning the Sade. He knows what he’s up against and he’s looking life and death in its two faces.<br/>He has the black energon tucked in his armor for emergencies. This is his only chance.<br/>Starscream makes sure he’s the last bot left behind but only to bow, as customary, “Humble Sade, if you permit it, I would like to speak to you.”<br/>“What is it?” His tone is sharp so Starscream moves to sap it up a bit more.<br/>“I, a worthless citizen would like to ask, with up-most respect and softness...to become a member of the Sade.”<br/>“Our positions are full, worm. Step outside.”<br/>Starscream starts to beg, on his knees, and crawling after them. “Please, let me join you. I’ll do whatever it takes.”<br/>“Are you deaf? Step outside or I will arrest you.”<br/>Somehow, in the way he looked up at them again, he saw a glimpse of the old Megatron. The Sade stare down at him the same way old Megatron stared down those who begged for whatever they didn’t deserve.<br/>Starscream readies the vile of black in his hands...and takes a gamble in the single step to return to his feet. He eyes the Sade right back, “Did you hear me say: I’ll do whatever it takes?”<br/>The First Sade tilts his head back slightly, to glare down his face plate at Starscream, “Are you looking for an assignment?”<br/>“Only if it means I’m granted a membership with your clan.” He grins; he has found the underground in the above-ground.</p><p>“Almost,” Sonica laughs, “put more emotion in your voice, Gemshade. Lift your head and then do the scale again.”<br/>She opens her mouth and tries again; her eyes focused on Sonica’s mimic and gesturing.<br/>“Good...from the bottom...middle...and up...more...”<br/>Gemshade cracks and shuts her mouth, “What?”<br/>Sonica sways as she laughs hard, “The end of your range...”<br/>“You have more range than me? What does it mean?”<br/>“It means...you can’t do high notes.” Sonica bends and pats her leg, fighting for composure. That crack in Gemshade’s voice sounded like a seal lion.<br/>Starscream phases through the front wall and instantly changes the atmosphere.<br/>Sonica doesn’t get a chance to ask.<br/>The Sade phase into the house behind him.<br/>The femmes stand.<br/>The First Sade points a judging finger, “Are you Eclipse?”<br/>Sonica doesn’t struggle to show her nervousness; she gets no cues from Starscream, “I-I am...what is th-this about?”<br/>“Did you know you are smuggling a fugitive?”<br/>Gemshade and Sonica look at each other; true dread on both of their faces.<br/>“Exiled Chrysalisian, Gemshade. You are under arrest to be judged before the Phantom.”<br/>A wrath rears its head within Gemshade’s being, “Never.”<br/>Gemshade didn’t get far. The five Sade quickly ambush her and wrestle her to the ground. A snapping is heard over the grind of their grip and Gemshade screams. Sonica cries angrily and dives to attack the Sade with an orange-coated fist but Starscream grabs her, twisting her arm painfully behind her back.<br/>The Sade pick Gemshade off the ground and Starscream mutters at the side of her head.<br/>“Fuel me. Now.”<br/>Sonica nods discreetly, relaxing a touch as she sticks him with her wrist needle and fills him with lots of silver energon.<br/>“Save her, please.” She whispers back just as the First Sade faces Starscream.<br/>Their stares lock onto one another’s and Starscream grins; Sonica sees it in her peripheral.<br/>Agony juts through her middle. She stiffly manages to look down in the shock. Starscream’s sharp fingers stick out of her body.<br/>The First Sade watches, unfeeling, “You’re too slow.”<br/>“Wait for it...” Starscream almost sings as Sonica’s consciousness slips. Her vision rears and bucks, her hydraulics are numb and straining under the weight of her shut down. Her spark flickers.<br/>Starscream shoves her to the floor and shifts his weight to one leg, “Do I make my own opening or is this enough?”<br/>The First Sade smirks, “You make it. Come with me, Sade Number Eight.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Truth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Starscream watches the Sade demolish the house and implant a sign explaining that it was no longer in use due to the cleansing departure of its inhabitants.<br/>It’s all he can do to ignore Sonica’s blood on his hands; to keep from staring at it. He felt her life fade as she slumped against him...he still feels it. His spark is shattered and he feels nothing. He can’t. Just like he can’t undo what he’s done. This wasn’t part of the plan.<br/>They finish flattening the rubble and lift Gemshade onto one of the larger of the Sades for transport. She wails in more pain beyond her severed spinal cord.<br/>The First Sade tells the soon-to-be former Number Eight that Starscream is coming along simply for more espionage assignments. He suspicious, but follows them anyway as they lead their new recruit to the Sade castle.<br/>He wins the fight against Number Eight by shooting him instead of engaging in swordplay. Then he works to make a compelling case towards being an uncover Sade; mostly to avoid his appearance being changed again. He offers to find the rebellion, report it, and snuff it too if Gemshade had any other helpers.<br/>The First Sade agrees and dismisses the meeting.<br/>Starscream glances at the others leaving and starts to go with them.<br/>“Halt, Number Eight.”<br/>He obeys and looks at him, “I should work right away, should I not?”<br/>“After your justice session, Number Eight. Do you not know?”<br/>“I believe I’ve just been recruited, so no.”<br/>The First Sade grabs the top edge of his chest plating; his alloy creaks under his grip, “I will lead you to your new quarters. You will stay there all day until your arms and chest are covered with new weld marks. You did just replace an honorable member, Number Eight.”<br/>“Of course,” Starscream smirks, “And then do I see the justice of my pretended comrade?”<br/>The First Sade mirrors the smirk, “No, because while she’s being terminated, you will be out and about making sure that no one knows she ever returned. Am I clear?”<br/>“Transparently, your Lowliness.”<br/>The Fist Sade rolls his optics and shoves him towards the entry wall, “Go...and I’ll be sure to keep in touch.” He taps his forehead and Starscream curses behind his nod.<br/>If he wants his freedom again, he needs to take it from the First Sade. Now that he knows how they really operate, it’ll be easy to terminate them than it was Sonica.<br/>Leaving the throne room behind him and checking the clear halls, he lets his head hang.<br/>Sonica...</p><p> </p><p>Megatron lands at the sight and starts digging. The slight ping in his mind guides him straight to the floor where the lounging room used to be.<br/>The gathering that scheduled for tonight, starts to walk into the clearing. The many eyes watched the familiar stranger shove aside chunks of wall like it was a smaller bot before falling to his knees and reaching below the ground. He pulls up Eclipse, bleeding and fading.<br/>Megatron analyzes the energon on his hands; please let this be one of her illusions.<br/>Through the silver energon connection, she tells him it’s not.<br/>He gently adjusts his arms around her, holding her closer as her optic lights flicker, “Who did this?”<br/>The hurt on her face... there is only one bot who can cause her that much pain...and the holes in her body match his assumption. He fights to reign in his indignation.<br/>“Where is it? Where’s the...”<br/>She stops his mouth with a gentle touch of her fingertips. Again, through the silver, she tells him she’s too weak to control it. To get to the white energon, he would have to open her up which would then terminate her faster.<br/>Grief drowns his spark, “No, no, no, no, no...this isn’t supposed to happen...” His anger flashes as her optics wander. He shakes her slightly, “STAY. Please, stay with me. Stay with me...Sonica...”<br/>Through the last of her efforts, she smiles endearingly and sends all her love. She pulls it from her memories, of the unknowingly last hours of her life, the moments where she captured every one of his adoring gazes and smiles. Her spark fades and her mouth manages three last words...<br/>Her lights die out and the connection severs.<br/>She’s no longer there to see him seethe with a calm but raging wrath.<br/>The old Megatron is back. His optics change to smelting red.<br/>Silver-bloods surrounding him take a few steps back, save one. He steps forwards.<br/>“Megatron,” He forces himself to stand his ground when the crimson gaze suddenly aims at him, “What happened?”<br/>Starscream... He wants to say but stops. Sonica can’t finish her mission, so he will finish it for her...and destroy the scum that undoubtedly did this to move up. He tried to do it to Megatron who beat him; why not do it to the powerful Doradus that saved him? <br/>He keeps her against him and stands. The silver-bloods are frozen in place; curious and brave enough to linger to find out.<br/>“The SADE...terminated her.”</p><p> </p><p>“Sonica!”<br/>She brightens, “Breakdown!”<br/>They run at each other and slam into an embrace. Neither of them really feel it, not like they would in their bodies.<br/>“It’s good to see you!”<br/>He laughs, “What do you mean? We saw each other a while ago when you brought your sisters through.”<br/>“We did?”<br/>He leans back to look at her, “You don’t remember?”<br/>“Of course she doesn’t,” Doradus the First steps out from nowhere.<br/>Breakdown bows slightly and acknowledges her.<br/>Sonica doesn’t bother, “Why wouldn’t I remember?”<br/>“SinStorm made sure you didn’t.”<br/>“What?”<br/>Breakdown slaps her back, “Don’t fret. We’ll tell you again, no big deal.”<br/>“What the slag is going on?”<br/>Breakdown laughs again and Doradus smiles at him. They exchange glances and she gestures him to go ahead...with whatever he’s asking.<br/>“I don’t want to play games.” Sonica grumbles, “Out with it.” She suddenly staggers recalling Megatron, “I left him behind...what is this all about?”<br/>He embraces her, “It’ll be alright. Remember when I went offline? Doradus the First was there and said you would be free when this is all over?”<br/>“Yes, and that ended when I was able to face Unicron. That was your guardian duty.”<br/>Doradus shakes her head, “Your guardian was a mere help against Unicron, Sly One, but it’s not his true calling.”<br/>Sonica rolls her eyes and hangs them on Doradus, trying to wait patiently.<br/>Breakdown feels her exasperation and squeezes, “It’s time to do my job, Sonica.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Cry For Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Starscream hurries through the Sade castle, logging a map into his memory banks as he searches for Gemshade in the prison halls. His sip of black won’t last long and he only has the small vile of it. If he fails to find her, he won’t get another chance.<br/>
Most of the castle is hidden in a mass of the natural sandy spires; like the mountains back on earth. He stepped in only to find that it’s one long room full of stasis pods. That was all he was able to gather before he had to fly out of there and to the rest of the castle. The 13 Sade have rooms in here but five of them are empty and haven’t been touched in some time according to the film of dust on everything.<br/>
Starscream knew being 8 among 13 was too good to be true.<br/>
After the dorms, stands the judgement room where a long couch stands on a platform. Behind the couch is another throne and it’s far more decorative than the one in the labeled “throne room”. On the other side of that, is the prison halls that hold only twenty cells.<br/>
By good fortune, Gemshade is in the first one he checks. She sits in shackles similar to the ring Sonica broke and yanked out of her.<br/>
The sip of black energon burns out and he phases through the prison wall.<br/>
She looks up at him, “Did you have to kill her?”<br/>
“Honestly, I hope I didn’t,” A nervous huff of a chuckle escapes, “Megatron is still out there. He should get to her before she perishes.”<br/>
“The Sade will know if she lives. You built fame around her. If the punishment facilities aren’t filled in a few megacycles, they will come after you.”<br/>
“And that’s why I’m breaking you out of here.”<br/>
“Good.”<br/>
“After you die, of course.”<br/>
“What?”<br/>
Starscream pulls out a vile he took from Sonica when she was about to fight the Sade, “This is white energon, my dear Gemshade. Hide this in your mouth, then crush it just before they strike you.”<br/>
“Are you going to be the one to dispose of me?”<br/>
“May not be likely,” He sticks it in her mouth for her, “I have to squash rebellion and return with scars.”<br/>
“Good luck then,” She manages around the vile, “if you see Sonica and she doesn’t kill you in return, tell her I’m alright.”<br/>
“Will do.” He takes another, but smaller, sip and takes off in jet mode. Straight out in the direction of the city.</p><p>Starscream hears the yelling first, then sneaks carefully through the back wall to the blacked-out abandoned diner. He tiptoes through the kitchen and peeks through the shelves filled with untouched, yet full, bottles.<br/>
Megatron stands on the counter in front of numerous silver-bloods. They are packed closely together and staring intently up at him.<br/>
“Eclipse wanted all of you to stop killing yourselves because she knew of the corruption of the Sade AND the Phantom. She was the only one who dared to look up and see the worthiness you all hold. If to be worthy is a sin, why does it feel so right?<br/>
“My brethren, Eclipse strove for peace but the Sade destroyed that when they destroyed her. We will free ourselves by whatever we feel is just and right.”<br/>
The silver-bloods nod curtly and a one starts a fist pump in the air--- mimicking Megatron’s gestures. Others follow suit.<br/>
“We will honor our worth through this freedom.”<br/>
“Yeah.”<br/>
“We are worthy to rule ourselves.”<br/>
“Yeah.”<br/>
“And we will honor Eclipse’s memory and mission---”<br/>
“YEAH.”<br/>
“---In the freedom she knew we deserved!”<br/>
“YEAH!”<br/>
“We are the rulers of ourselves! We say we are worth something because THAT feels RIGHT!”<br/>
The silver-bloods cheer and Megatron stands proud but his gaze is almost endearing. Sonica would be so pleased to see their strong will to live. At last, they have it. She sacrificed herself to be sure they could.<br/>
Starscream sinks behind the counter at the base of the shelving. He sits on the ground and pulls his knees up. His hands shake in front of his face. He killed his savior.<br/>
“Spread the word, quickly. Let the loyalists tell the Sade and Phantom we’re coming for them and they will learn that we are not a force to be reckoned with.” Megatron turns and grabs a bottle from the shelves.<br/>
He sees the tips of Starscream’s wings.<br/>
Slowly he turns back to his subjects, “If any of you are low in fuel, Eclipse stored some energon away for safe keeping.”<br/>
Starscream flinches. That was the storage she started to prepare for the next several gatherings...in hopes to fuel all the attendants and make them feel well again.<br/>
“For any of you still believing the Sade’s claim that it’s poison, watch.” He tips it to his mouth and holds it up after a large pour. “It should’ve destroyed me several glasses ago. I am your living proof.”<br/>
Starscream shuts his eyes as the pain constricts every fiber of his being. He barely hears the crowd bustle about. The shouts and cheers blend in a haze as his focus pinpoints on smothering his scream.<br/>
“She told me the Sade killed her.”<br/>
Starscream shakes into a cold soberness and stares up at Megatron. The first thing he notices is his optic color. His respiratory systems kick in with a jolt.<br/>
“Where were you?” His tone and voice are a sharp thunder over his head.<br/>
“M-Megatron...” He struggles to get the words out, “Th-there was nothing I could do.”<br/>
The looming dark blue figure sets his claw-like hands on his hips, “What does that mean, Starscream? You look awfully guilty...” He snatches him up off the floor by the neck, “...for someone who could do nothing!”<br/>
Starscream tears at his hand, “Megatron, I’m sorry. I’M SORRY! I swear!”<br/>
“Sorry for what, Starscream? For lying to us or stabbing your disgusting fingers through the one who saved you?”<br/>
He wails and pleads. Limbs flailing and fighting to crawl away.<br/>
Megatron doesn’t care who’s watching. He throws Starscream against a wall and lets the worm roll back, phase outside, and fly away.<br/>
The brave silver-blood from earlier, sets a hand on Megtron’s shoulder, “That’s her murderer?”<br/>
“Yes.”<br/>
He nods, “I’ll inform the others,” he starts to walk away but stops.<br/>
“As for Eclipse’s body...we should cremate her after the three solar cycles of grief.”<br/>
Megatron looks behind him where she lays on the counter behind the bar. Her peaceful features an ethereal calm against the lively chaos around her.<br/>
“I don’t think she’ll be able to rest...until we are free.”<br/>
“What will you do afterwards? Will you lead us?”<br/>
“No...” He hangs his head, “my only mission is to free you. Afterwards, I will take her and leave Chrysalis.”</p><p>Starscream welds his self-inflicted cuts, strangely satisfied by them. He’s officially a silver-blood.<br/>
He looks to the glass he filled with the silver from his bleeding arms. Later, he will put it inside a syringe and inject it back into his systems. He will not waste her last gift to him.<br/>
As he has repeated so many times in the last few megacycles: It was an accident. It was completely by accident. Rocking, he imagines Sonica sitting across the floor, watching him and listening to him explain.<br/>
“I didn’t mean to, I swear. I had to make it look real so I could join those who we are fighting. It was going to be the best tactical advance--- I would be able to see their movements, locate the Phantom, maybe learn his identity so we could be prepared for the final take down. My opportunity came sooner than I thought. I acted quickly and carefully. I was going to grovel my way in until I realized they were like Megatron. I had no choice.”<br/>
Sonica nods, “I forgive you Starscream. I am your biggest fan.”<br/>
“I won’t let you die in vain, Sonica. I will make up for my mistake...”<br/>
“Of course you will. That’s how you are.”<br/>
“Thank you for believing in me. I’ll carry it with me always. In your name, I will change this world and rule it the way you would wish me to.”<br/>
He stands tiredly, “Time to report in. Once I’m introduced to the Phantom, I will take the First Sade’s rank.”<br/>
Sonica nods and disappears with him through his room’s entry wall.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Friends in Grief</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Megatron, sir,”<br/>
He turns from Sonica’s gently wrapped body resting in a private room on tables from the diner’s main area.<br/>
It’s the silver-blood that has sort of taken second-in-command. He’s not afraid of him as the others are.<br/>
The silver-blood commander holds one of the communicators. Megatron sets his hand on Sonica, ready to grab and go if he must.<br/>
“I found it among the remains of your house. It seemed important and it’s blinking. I think you have messages or something.”<br/>
Megatron analyzes him as he slowly takes it, “Thank you.”<br/>
The silver-blood nods with a small smile, “I also realize you’re not native here.”<br/>
“Is that going to be a problem?”<br/>
“No, as long as you keep your promise to leave when this is all over.”<br/>
“Was it the communicator that gave me away?”<br/>
He almost chuckles, “It confirmed my suspicions. My first clue was how comfortable you were, speaking to us in such a way, like you’ve believed your words all your life.”<br/>
Megatron glances down at the communicator, “How many others know about this?”<br/>
“None, just me, sir.” He bows slightly and starts to walk out.<br/>
He stops him, utterly puzzled, “Why do this?”<br/>
The silver-blood pauses and his gaze drops, “Because...I know exactly...what you’re going through. Finally, someone besides me sees the truth.”<br/>
Megatron lets his optics close for a moment before making eye contact with this new-found friend, “What’s your name, friend?”<br/>
He smiles a little, “StormCoven, but I’ll respond to Coven.”<br/>
“I gave you my real name,” He turns to her still body, “Her’s was Sonica.”<br/>
“A pleasure to know you both.” He nods respectively and phases out of the room.<br/>
Megatron is alone with the communicator and stares at it; re-living her demise as he imagines their reactions to his news. With sigh, he decides to tell them anyway. Sonica would want them to know.</p><p> </p><p>Gemshade flies over the city, the physical pain of her endeavor forgotten. Instead, she can’t forget the look on Starscream’s face when he met her outside of the Sade castle, as per his instructions.<br/>
He didn’t look completely there, like he hadn’t powered down for ages. His somber expression worried her. She tried to ask but he talked without responding.<br/>
“Go and find Megatron. Take my map of the Sade castle from my mind and give it to him. The Phantom is here and spends all his time in the lab. I’m still in the process of figuring out why but there are a lot of stasis pods here.”<br/>
She obeyed but couldn’t ignore her impression that something horrible had happened, “Starscream, what’s going on...with you?”<br/>
“I’ll try to stay in contact, keep your mind open, so I can find you if I need to.”<br/>
“Starscream...”<br/>
“My next mission is to find out what’s really going on here...hopefully before Megatron’s attack on the castle.”<br/>
“Attack?” She noticed his scars and her spark ached, “Starscream...what...?”<br/>
“Go now. The First Sade is summoning me.” He gently directed her the way straight to the diner. She protested but he talked over her, “He’s hidden in the diner. Get there as soon as you can and...after you pass on my message...tell him...it was an accident but I don’t expect him to forgive me.”<br/>
Gemshade whirled around and grabbed his face, “Talk to me, aft-hole!”<br/>
“No time. Just go.” Starscream held her wrists, paused, like he just felt her touch, then leaned into the contact for a brief moment. Then he pushed her hands back to her, “Go now.”<br/>
She had no choice but to obey. Starscream walked away and didn’t even look at her while she called him twice more.<br/>
Sonica’s memories of him swirl in her mind; everything’s wrong with him. That bothers her as much as his phrasing about “it” being an accident. She has her suspicions but only Megatron can tell her for sure.<br/>
It takes a while for the way to clear before she can land. She’s extra aware that she doesn’t have Sonica’s mask anymore and she’s supposed to be dead. It takes a megacycle to reach a place five cycles away. After bending around buildings, ducking under roadways, and taking all the long ways around, she finally phases into the back of the diner.<br/>
Megatron is on the other side of the shelves with other silver-bloods, trying to map the castle. She sends a mental ping to him and waits.<br/>
He pauses the meeting after a couple cycles and meets her where she stands near a custodial nook.<br/>
“I’ll confess,” He gets right to the point, “I didn’t think you’d be online either.”<br/>
“Technically I’m dead,” Gemshade talks quietly as she stares almost straight up his chest plate into his dark but bright red eyes, “Starscream gave me some special pale energon.”<br/>
Megatron shakes his head, “He saved you...but didn’t save her.”<br/>
Her hands fly over her mouth, “You mean...?”<br/>
“She lies there,” He gestures to the wall behind him, “waiting for justice, peace, and completion of her mission.”<br/>
“Justice?” Gemshade is cautiously defensive, “Starscream said it was an accident. She wasn’t supposed to die.”<br/>
“He stabs her where she’ll die slowly, painfully, with a length of time to wonder if he meant to truly harm her or not...and he takes from her, the one thing that could’ve saved her.”<br/>
Silver-bloods peek around the shelves.<br/>
“She was too weak to do anything. I had nothing to help her. He didn’t just leave her for dead, he left her to suffer one last time.”<br/>
“You didn’t see him like I did,” Gemshade’s back bumps the wall, “He’s a wreck.”<br/>
“As he should be,” Megatron slams his hand on the wall over her head, “but feeling guilty isn’t going to satisfy the blood he’s spilt.”<br/>
“How about a map of the Sade castle?” She tries to shove his arm away but fails; it’s really stuck there. “How about the location of the Phantom? He shared this with me and sent me directly to you.”<br/>
He straightens, “I suppose it helps a little,” he gestures her to join the others on the other side of the shelves, “Please, Gemshade, join us.”<br/>
The silver-bloods stir and start glancing at each other; save StormCoven.<br/>
He’s mostly dark blue but with mint green and white zig-zags down his sides. The same design makes the wispy spikes on the side of his head. He’s almost as tall as Megatron but has a longer and kinder face. His hover-wheels rest flat on the back of his shoulders and makes his otherwise lean physique, look bigger.<br/>
He offers a hand, “Welcome back, Gemshade.”<br/>
“Why aren’t you mad?”<br/>
“Should I be? Your banishment was unjust.”<br/>
“I think you’re the only one who thinks so...”<br/>
“Probably, but after my UltraViolet was murderered, I saw your actions as they actually were. Your sentence solidified my then-loose convictions. Thank you for being true to yourself.”<br/>
“Wow,” Gemshade almost smiles, “um, thanks, I guess?”<br/>
StormCoven chuckles, “You’ve changed quite a bit; that gall to say ‘thank you’ is really something.”<br/>
“Banishment was the best thing that ever happened to me,” She smiles.<br/>
Megatron and StormCoven exchange glances and Megatron nods for him to get the map from her. The communicator is pinging in the other room again. He phases in and picks it up.<br/>
Arcee is in the center of the screen which she’s put up on the bridge’s main visual feed. Arcee has the captain’s seat; Bumblebee, Smokescreen, Wheeljack, and Knockout stand at the surrounding controls. “We are in orbit of Chrysalis.”<br/>
“I will soon be sending you the layout of the Sade Castle. Remain on stand by.”<br/>
Arcee nods, “Will you able to carry the communicator with you?”<br/>
“No, but I have just enough silver energon to send a message to your communicator.”<br/>
“How does that work? So we can recognize the message if it’s different from what we expect.”<br/>
“It’ll chirp like it got a message but there won’t be one.”<br/>
“Good to know.”<br/>
“If I may?” Smokescreen raises his hand and Arcee permits him to speak, “Could we...maybe meet you somewhere...to...” He checks on Knockout who stares down at the controls, “...recover her shell? We may feel safer having her off the planet when the finale commences.”<br/>
Megatron nods to him, “You make a compelling suggestion. My only concern is your ship will reveal me and cause distrust in my new lieutenant who could lead the army against me and the rest of you.”<br/>
Knockout lifts his head, “Megatron, I shared with them Decepticon cloaking technology. Is there anyway we could do this?”<br/>
“I can’t leave the base. I’m sorry.” He pauses, “But Gemshade returned...”<br/>
Wheeljack lifts a brow, “Your first report said she was missing.”<br/>
“Starscream gave the white energon to her so she would survive her termination sentence.”<br/>
Knockout slams his hands on the consoles, “He had white?”<br/>
“It was the only external supply she had.” He looks away so he doesn’t have to watch their agony. It only reminds him of his own that he’s tucked gently away under his burning anger.<br/>
“What’s your answer, Megatron? Do we come get her or not?” Arcee’s already hard voice solidifies.<br/>
“I will check back with you when I give you the map.”<br/>
She nods curtly, “We will wait.”<br/>
The communicator shuts off with a push of a button and Megatron lowers it back to the small stand beside Sonica’s body. He looks over her still and softly wrapped shell.<br/>
“Your friends are here, my darling. We’ll go home soon.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. To Where We Were Before</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The First Sade looks over Number Eight’s scars in the throne room, “Next time, they need to be deeper.”<br/>Starscream fights a slump and a sigh; he doesn’t feel like playing anymore and wants it over with. But he seems to be fresh out of choices lately.<br/>“And your report?”<br/>Starscream isn’t given a chance to talk. The hit of the silver connection to his brain feels a slap to the head. He fights the probing, “I don’t have anything you don’t already know. The citizens are planning an attack.”<br/>“But why? Gemshade was a criminal so it cannot be her death that sparked such evil. So who-?” The First Sade stops, realizing, then his gaze is like a boulder coming down on Starscream to crush him, “Who did you terminate in that house?”<br/>“A nobody named Eclipse. I told you, humble First Sade.”<br/>“Eclipse...” His shadow sweeps over Starscream as he pivots around to the desk. He pulls up the screens and types in his pass codes, bringing up her record.<br/>Starscream quickly debates what he’s going to say. The First Sade is deeply scrutinizing the record. All he has to do to learn it’s fake, is look up the true installation date. It’s coded over by a simple digital layer; one doesn’t need to be a hacker to find it.<br/>He sifts through his options as that’s exactly what the First Sade is doing. Starscream’s mind lands on something and begins:<br/>“She was a secretive bot but I don’t think that’s any cause for alarm.”<br/>The First Sade’s eyes drop from the screen to Starscream’s like a hammer, “How did Gemshade return, Number Eight?”<br/>“All she said was she found a way to fly back. She met up with Eclipse who was an old, private friend of hers. Eclipse’s secretiveness was a good cover until they confided in me about it.”<br/>The First Sade takes the bait and finds the pretend installation date, “Eclipse is a fraud. Who is she really, Number Eight?”<br/>“Wait, what?” Starscream squints at the screen as he walks carefully forwards, “She’s a fraud too? Where did she come from?”<br/>“How could you not know?” He slams a fist on his desk, “How did you become friends with bots you barely know?”<br/>Starscream steps back, “Eclipse was cute...” he tries a chuckle, “we hit it off. I thought I knew her well.”<br/>The First Sade strides over and gets in Starscream’s face, “Something doesn’t match up, Number Eight.”<br/>“What exactly?”<br/>“Eclipse, a nobody and a fraud...you somehow didn’t know about this, yet, her termination seems to have started a roto-storm of rebellion and malcontent. *You’re either lying or your stupid.”<br/>“Alright, alright, I’m stupid!” Starscream snaps, “A moment of weakness to blind all my suspicions--- I see that now but how is that going to help you at this point? We have a population of hundreds preparing to battle us and neither of us nor the Phantom seem concerned. Your security is non-existent and I don’t know the Sade to have ever been superior warriors.”<br/>The First Sade’s expression suddenly smooths and stretches into some sort of amused charm, “Number Eight, it’s time you learn all our secrets.”<br/>That’s not good, Starscream thinks to himself and remembers the black energon in the compartment on his back. He has to play ignorant.<br/>“Secrets? Besides how the Sade truly operate?”<br/>“It’s why the Sade operate so, Number Eight.”<br/>He starts walking towards the throne and glances over his shoulder, “Follow me.”<br/>Starscream knows that finalizing tone, he’s walking straight towards his termination; these might be the last moments of his life.<br/>As he walks up the steps, he grabs the vile of black out of his compartment, clutching it in his hand while the First Sade presses a button on the back of the chair. Starscream’s optics widen as a ground bridge, in the exact shape of the backing, forms right in front of them.<br/>"Why not whole-stride there?" Starscream dares to ask and he may as well have shot himself in the foot. He doesn't know how to do whole-stride but if it means he has a chance to run before the First Sade gets wise, he'll take it.<br/>"Whole-stride is too loud," He scrutinizes down his faceplate at him and Starscream tucks away his nervousness.<br/>"Right, of course. I figured."<br/>How is it loud?<br/>The First Sade shoves him in first and stalks right behind him as they step into the lab.<br/>From here, Starscream learns how long the laboratory is. The wall to his right is where the stasis pods are lined before they stop at the darkest part of the room, where he entered while looking for Gemshade. Now he stands on the opposite end that’s slightly elevated from the rest of the floor but this platform holds most of the computers and screens.<br/>In the opposite, darker corner, he hears the slight groan of transformer alloy sitting up. He sees three eyes: two small blue ones of the bot sitting up and a familiar single red eye that seems to be laying on the same table the other bot now sits on.<br/>The First Sade startles him by speaking over his head, “I’ve brought Number Eight to meet you, my Great Star.”<br/>“This is the new one that replaced your first choice?”<br/>“Indeed and I think he should know all our secrets,”<br/>The Phantom chuckles and walks by the slight light of the stasis chambers, “He’s so...interesting...”<br/>The First Sade bows. Somehow, Starscream knows he’s offering his mind to the Phantom; he’s reading everything the First Sade knows about Starscream.<br/>Starscream recalls the “field trips” Megatron would take him on...the dread that soaked him and made his feet feel heavy...and that recollection evaporates insignificantly under the darkness of this laboratory. Worlds are blended here, life and death stand in the same room he does; his shoulders brush them and each touch is a bruise to his very spark. The bruises grow cold outside his warm veins and his whole body feels heavy and solid.<br/>He’d rather being facing a wrathful Megatron right now; at least he’d feel he has a chance.<br/>The Phantom, still cloaked in light-sucking black, stops directly in front of him. The air that blows out of his body reeks of rust and rotting tubes.<br/>“Who are you really, Number Eight? Are you just a good liar?”<br/>The hit to his head, this time, almost knocks him out. Nothing touches him but his whole body is feeling stretched, pulled, and spread out from the inside. It hurts so greatly he can’t even cry out as invisible fingers stab through his neuro-net.<br/>He doesn’t feel himself hit the ground, the throbbing of all his body’s matter numbs him; he can’t even tell if he’s sitting up or pushing himself sideways on the floor. Emergency systems shut him down and put him in stasis.</p><p> </p><p>Gemshade carries Sonica’s body on her jet form. Megatron gave her the coordinates of the Cybertronian ship as he gently but securely cinched Sonica into place. Gemshade could feel the deep, loving care he put into securing her and it hurt as much as it did to have to carry her terminated friend. He touched his forehead to Sonica’s one last time before Gemshade was ordered to take off.<br/>She flies low to stay out of sight from anyone who may be watching the flats. The coordinates are a long ways off, as Megatron wished, so the bots could avoid all chances of being seen or detected.<br/>With the long flight, her memories of Sonica’s last moments replay over and over in her mind. She shared all of her memories with Starscream and Megatron before the Sade came, and there, is where her mind insists on staying this time.<br/>“When Megatron did change," Sonica had began after the connection faded, "I wanted to do everything within my power to support it, reward it, and make him feel comfortable in his dramatic change. I’m a sucker towards those who are ‘new’ in that way.”<br/>"Still don't get it. Was it pity that turned into love?" Gemshade wondered at herself. Does she care?<br/>"Slag no," Sonica frowned, "but I have been wondering the same thing and I finally figured it out. I like his rough edges, I like that he doesn't trust people easily, and I like his perspective of things because I agree with a lot of it; especially now. If we don't agree, he listens and gives it real thought."<br/>"You can be difficult to understand."<br/>The comment barely reached her audio receptors, "I like that he's guarded towards everyone but me, and even if he is that way towards me, it's a game that he doesn't mind playing, you get me?"<br/>"Sure."<br/>And it's because of that, Gemshade realized all the links Starscream had for her. He likes the games but he's easy to tease. Trust issues are there but he's always willing to let someone in if he feels they're loyal. Also, and ultimately, his desire for something greater than himself can consume all else.<br/>Gemshade understands that completely. Her home sucks. If it means she has to turn over every rock to make it better, so be it. Banishment was the best thing because Gemshade finally had the freedom to find herself...but never, not for a moment, did she stop thinking about Chrysalis. As much as she fought coming back, she didn't fight as hard as she could have. The guilt for abandoning her kin made it hard, but hope to remedy that guilt made it possible.<br/>Starscream not only understood this, but read it right off her face as they discussed their course of action.<br/>Gemshade lied, she wasn't shutting Starscream up because he was only talking about Sonica. The truth is...after such a bonding moment, she heard his heavy sigh after mentioning Sonica, and Gemshade feared she would lose that bond. Maybe she didn't need to threaten him as she ordered him to stay focused. He knew where he stood with Sonica and was having more fun irritating Megatron than anything else.<br/>"You're irritating me." Gemshade had barked at him as she gripped his thighs just above his knees.<br/>"How? I'm not doing anything."<br/>"I want a bigger part in your plan."<br/>He hesitated, surprised, "What for?"<br/>"To make sure you do it right...for your entire reign."<br/>That made him chuckle and it grew into a laugh, "What are you going to do while I run everything?"<br/>"Run you."<br/>An awkward silence planked between them.<br/>"...into the ground." She added stiffly, "If you screw up..."<br/>"That's what you really want?"<br/>"It is now. Whatever I learn from you, I will put to use if I don't think you're what's best for my kin."<br/>He emanated static through his legs and into her hands, "You can certainly try."<br/>"...I hate what you're doing. It's not going to work."<br/>"Looks like it is."<br/>And it turned into a competition after that... But it was the first time Gemshade really smiled. Starscream is resilient in the way that matters and it makes her feel safe. Finally, someone who doesn't crumble under terrible things. And, at last, she has some kind of dream that molds perfectly around her greatest desire: saving the silver-bloods.<br/>And where they are now, makes it hurt worse. Starscream went from the bright, pensive, bot he is, to the half dead and dying figure she last saw. He's hanging on--- out of the same reluctance she has--- but like her old self, he desires an impossible change. And that change is beyond his control.<br/>The Sade castle is famous for changing bots, not even her wish granter was immune.<br/>Gemshade has to land and let it all out. She just needs a moment to allow her pain to go wild as all the elements compound. Everything’s a mess.<br/>When she forces herself ahead, she comes up on the ship quickly and the bots are outside, more than ready to greet her. Smokescreen runs out a ways as she lowers to a landing. Then he runs along beside her as she slows to a stop.<br/>They remove Sonica gently, with very few words, and Gemshade transforms. Then she drops to her hands and knees, the pain isn’t through torturing her. Wheeljack lets the others carry her into the ship and he walks up to her.<br/>“You alright, kid?”<br/>“Try and tell me that I am. I dare you.”<br/>“Come on,” He offers a hand, “On your feet. You have to keep going; everyone still alive depends on it.”<br/>She glares at his hand, then stands on her own, staggering a little. "You don't need to tell me that."<br/>Wheeljack smiles, “Good. Because I'm not your therapist."<br/>That earns a smirk from her and she starts to follow him aboard the ship but pauses. Without really thinking about why, she looks up. Something’s coming.</p><p>Knockout and Smokescreen carry Sonica’s body towards the back of the ship to put her in a stasis pod. They set her in gently but don’t yet close the lid. They wait for Wheeljack and Gemshade to join them.<br/>Arcee watches Knockout and Smokescreen relax just a little, happy that the wait is over and they have their girl home with them. But the same edge in their gaze reminds her of how she felt towards Arachnid and Starscream, as her own has worsened. Starscream has taken two friends from her and revenge has never sounded so good. The bots around her want it just as bad as she does, if not more.<br/>Optimus would rather they be better than that...and she can hear him in her thoughts. He has been lecturing her from her memories since she last talked to Ultra Magnus who warned against it. She’s still flip-flopping between the two decisions and finds she’s weaker than Optimus thought.<br/>Knockout gets Arcee’s attention, “I’ve been meaning to ask for some time: what do you plan to do to Starscream when we find him?”<br/>She curses in her head and touches her fingertips to it, “Honestly, I’m not sure.”<br/>Movement catches her peripheral and they turn.<br/>Sonica’s optic lights glow through the cloth wrapped around her.<br/>No one moves for a freaked-out nanoklik, nor the next two as their minds struggle to accept what they’re seeing.<br/>Knockout is the first to move and reaches out to start pulling the wrapping off. He starts at her face and Sonica looks him right in the eyes. He smiles and tries pulling the rest off. Proving difficult, he saws the rest off.<br/>Smokescreen moves around him and touches her face, “Sonica? Is that really you?”<br/>She smiles and encloses her hand around his.<br/>He lets out the last heavy breath of his grief and holds her hand as she sits up and steps out.<br/>Sonica glances around at them.<br/>Arcee sets her hands on her hips, “What happened this time? You’re competing with Megatron now, with how many times have the two of you defied death?”<br/>Sonica lifts her hands and turns them over in front of her.<br/>Knockout’s brow furrows, “Sonica?”<br/>Her smile spreads into a grin, “It’s good to have this body again; a perfect fit.”<br/>They barely have the chance to be confused. Their bodies cease to move and their insides threaten to tear them asunder. The pain chokes them and their consciousness is glitching and slipping. They last they see is Sonica, her hands up, suspending them all up in the air...and a wicked grin on her face.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*=actual quote of Starscream in Gen 1.<br/>I couldn't resist.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Death and Daring</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Shockwave stares at the stasis pod that Starscream rests in. He checks the monitor that scans and tracks his vitals and he’s alive and well...for now.<br/>
He glances nervously behind him, to the body the Phantom used to inhibit. It’s the shell he’s been working so hard to keep together. Something about the Phantom’s spark rots every body she tries to posses...no matter how driven and ruthless the Sade was before he was terminated. Her idea is the body must match her own ferocity.<br/>
The Phantom fails to realize that that drive is personality derived from the spark, not the body...but Shockwave won’t tell the Phantom that. He’s trying to stay alive and the experiments aren’t so bad. He’s learning how impossible immortality is and fusing body parts together gives him something to do.<br/>
When he jettisoned off of Cybertron, he wasn’t sure where he was going to go or what he planned to do; his only logical deduction was to avoid imprisonment. The boredom almost terminated him.<br/>
But this is worse.<br/>
He glances between Starscream and the Phantom’s shell again. This is his opportunity to do something while she’s away retrieving her original body. But what logical solution is there? Starscream was helpless, just as he is helpless...but he can fly and warn the others. If Sonica and him are here, others must be too--- with a way to communicate to Cybertron. They need to get off this planet and protect their home. The Phantom will go there after the silver-bloods are destroyed.<br/>
Shockwave constantly checks over his shoulder as he types in the release codes as fast as he can. The lid pops open, hissing, and the gases roll out like a fog as the lid lifts. Shockwave throws it upwards and grabs Starscream.<br/>
He staggers and clutches his head.<br/>
“Starscream, do you have enough silver energon to phase out of here?”<br/>
It’s taking to long for him to come out of it. It’s the drug that’s meant to keep prisoners asleep so they don’t feel Shockwave immediately dismember them. Starscream was in there just long enough to have it mostly through his system.<br/>
Shockwave glances at the shell again and shakes him, “Starscream, answer my question. Quickly.”<br/>
Starscream moans but makes brief eye contact with Shockwave.<br/>
He shakes him again and glances twice more at the shell; she’ll be back at any minute and Starscream must be long gone before she gets back. Shockwave repeats Starscream’s name until the flyer finally starts to grab his arms and his repeated word becomes clearer.<br/>
“Ssshhtawp...stap...Shockwave, stop.”<br/>
He starts shoving Starscream towards the wall that hides in the sand spires.<br/>
“What...areoo doing?”<br/>
“Get out of here and warn the others.” He glances again and again, “The Phantom is SinStorm. Leave. Now.”<br/>
Starscream sobers and seemingly sees Shockwave for the first time, “What about you?”<br/>
“GO!” He shoves him and glances three more times at the shell.<br/>
Starscream transforms.<br/>
“And stay out of sight!”<br/>
“Will do!” He dives through the wall just over the stasis pods. He’ll circle around the spires and make his way back to the diner.<br/>
Shockwave glances over all the other pods. They’ve been full for a while, they won’t wake in time to escape. The next logical course of action...would be for him to get out.<br/>
Phantom SinStorm will return in Sonica’s body; learning about her presence and death from Starscream's memories. That body will sustain her, probably, as she has inhabited it before. There will be no need for him anymore.<br/>
He has very little time and only one arm to escape a room with no doors or windows. The stasis pods are on the wrong wall to make them bombs. The ground bridge would take him to another exit-less room...but that one may have windows.<br/>
He runs to the ground bridge controls and tries the pass-codes he knows. None work so he yanks away the activation switch and scrambles with the wires and connections. It takes him just a few seconds; no one is behind him...yet. He rubs a couple wires together and the ground bridge activates.<br/>
A thunderous bang, blasts behind him. The wave hits him and he teeters but doesn’t fall. He turns and recognizes Sonica’s optics staring right at him. That was the whole-stride that silver-bloods can do, where they act as a ground bridge. When they do this, they break the sound barrier causing their arrival to boom like that; the only reason why they bother with ground bridges at all.<br/>
“Where are you going, my delicious mind? What if I need you? Are you going to dare betray me?”<br/>
“Is there something you need me for? If not, it is only...logical...to conclude our agreement fulfilled and I am allowed to leave.”<br/>
“We changed the agreement, remember? I asked you to stay and you agreed.”<br/>
He doesn’t remember this but dread tells him it did...while he wasn’t himself. He glances at the open ground bridge; if the other room doesn’t have windows, he’s dead.<br/>
“Let me remind you, Shockwave.”<br/>
He’d rather die trying, “No, stay away from me.” He dives for the ground bridge. His body halts in midair, just inside the entrance, and is yanked back.<br/>
Shockwave doesn’t feel his body slam to the ground but he hears it. The agony of SinStorm’s energon grip on his fueled veins and systems has him numb. Her glowing eyes, right above his, are all that tells him he’s laying face up.<br/>
“My delicious mind, you will stay to do a check up on me. I want to know this body is accepting my spark. After that, we’ll talk about what happens to you.”<br/>
His eye focuses as the pain finally starts to ebb. It’s Sonica’s body...but it doesn’t seem like hers anymore. SinStorm has twisted her expressions, darkened her presence, and a thirsty craze beams through her wide optics.<br/>
“Check me, my personal doctor...and do so...thoroughly.”</p><p> </p><p>Gemshade sighs with relief as Knockout opens his eyes. “It worked, thank Primus.”<br/>
No one responds to her statement that he hears.<br/>
Knockout sits up with soreness he never thought possible.<br/>
“Whoa, there doc, you’ve been offline for a megacycle. The rest of you still has to warm up.”<br/>
“Offline?”<br/>
Gemshade nods once with a pleasant smile, “It’s alright though, we saved you.” She moves onto Smokescreen who lies close by.<br/>
Knockout looks around, his whole team is still sprawled out and unconscious...and dead... Who’s ‘we’? He tries to ask.<br/>
She doesn’t answer right away as Smokescreen lets out a painful groan. She tells him the same thing she told Knockout--- he’s been offline for a megacycle. Then she walks in a squat over to Arcee and picks up her detached arm on the way.<br/>
“Gemshade, what in the AllSpark is going on?”<br/>
“We need to get to Megatron and the silver-bloods. They have no idea what they’re up against and they’ll all die if we don’t find him within a few cycles.” She focuses on Arcee as she speaks and sets her hand on her chest.<br/>
Three nanokliks tick by and Arcee gasps and starts coughing.<br/>
Knockout manages to move onto his hands and knees but has to stop there, but his questions don’t, “How are you doing that?”<br/>
“Not doing anything, really.”<br/>
“That makes no sense. Just tell me.”<br/>
“It's all I can say now. I need to focus.” She pulls the sword out of Wheeljack’s spark chamber after a couple hard pulls then kneels beside him and does the same thing she did with Arcee.<br/>
Wheeljack’s chest mends most of the way before he suddenly shouts and thrashes his arms. Gemshade leaps out of the way just in time. He rolls to his side, still yelling, and adding crude curses to the mix.<br/>
Smokescreen sits up with much agony next to Knockout. “Are you serious? Did we really die?”<br/>
Gemshade stands, glancing over them and mutters quietly with her hands on her hips. They hear nothing but she behaves like she got a response. She smirks then shakes her head and all they hear is: “When he reaches them, it’ll be too late. I need them up now.”<br/>
“Hey,” Smokescreen tries and cringes when he breathes too deep, “Are you okay?”<br/>
Gemshade tips her head back and laughs but doesn’t answer...if her humor wasn't an answer to his question.<br/>
She comes back to Knockout, muttering to herself, “Maybe I can do it again? That should help, right?” She withdraws her hand and talks to her shoulder, “I thought we were in a hurry. Did you plan for this?” She pauses.<br/>
Knockout and Smokescreen exchange glances.<br/>
“I know what she said, I’m saying we need faster progress than this. They should be standing right now if we’re going to make it before he does.”<br/>
“Um,” Knockout begins cautiously, “Gemshade?”<br/>
She looks right at him and it startles him.<br/>
“Uh, what are we in such a hurry for?”<br/>
“To warn Megatron and the silver-bloods, I told you.”<br/>
“About what?”<br/>
Her gaze narrows but not at him, “SinStorm.”<br/>
Arcee overhears and repeats before coughs stop her from asking for details.<br/>
Gemshade stands and checks on Wheeljack, he hasn’t moved. “Did I do it right?” She starts to walk over but stops just half a nanoklik before Wheeljack swings the sword he found near him.<br/>
“Stay away from me, freak!”<br/>
“She’s gone, Wheeljack. Down some coolant.”<br/>
He peeks at her, “Gemshade?”<br/>
“Duh.”<br/>
“And who else?” Smokescreen scrutinizes, “Who are you muttering to?”<br/>
“You need to know why you should start getting up and moving. SinStorm has returned...sort of...she never left. In fact, she wasn’t fully present to begin with. Never went to the AllSpark. Too angry to rest.” Gemshade stops, listening, then nods once. “Got it.”<br/>
She looks back at them, “When you’re better, follow the coordinates I left on your map. I’m going to go meet Megatron and the others.”<br/>
Knockout manages to stand, “Gemshade, what’s going on?”<br/>
“SinStorm is the Phantom. She’s possessed Sonica’s body and that’s going to give her the strength she needs to finish off me and mine. We CANNOT fight her, got it? If you see her or whatever, do NOT engage--- unless death was the great.”<br/>
“So...” Wheeljack groans sitting up, “we’re evacuating?”<br/>
“No. We need to defeat SinStorm.”<br/>
"Without fighting her?" Knockout raises a brow.<br/>
"Duh."<br/>
Smokescreen perks up, “We’re blowing her up?”<br/>
“No!” Gemshade sets her hands on her hips, “That would destroy Doradus’ vessel. It is not to be harmed, understand?”<br/>
“Forgive us for being slow,” Arcee snarls, “we are just recovering from death, but will you tell us, without scolding, what in the fraggin’ universe are we supposed to be doing?”<br/>
“Recovering. Then find and meet up with Megatron. His strategic smarts are needed.”<br/>
Wheeljack makes a face and shakes his head, “All without engaging SinStorm or hurting her vessel?”<br/>
Gemshade smiles brightly, but it doesn't shine through her eyes, “Exactly.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I finished writing "Trans-Force"!!! Doing some final editing and then I'll be posting. ENJOY.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Ghost Story</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>SinStorm died; the silver-bloods took her offline and she laid there in the street as a rare storm of acid rain fell. The buildings have some webbed indents in the side and many windows will need repair but everything stands. The silver-bloods that survived her energon grip lift themselves sorely out of holes and sit up from the window sills they drape over. Only one building is on fire and it was a failed distraction; the liquid nitrogen guns they customized to their arm artillery was what ultimately worked to slow her down.<br/>
The silver-blood that destroyed her bleeds blue tinted with black. Whatever he did to get black energon from SinStorm, he doesn’t dare talk about. He was the only one that managed to get close enough to stab her through the spark with the sword transformed neatly back into his arm.<br/>
This silver-blood that killed her, gave up his name and disappeared, to keep his friends safe from her mind probing and was simply called, the Phantom. Now he stands over her body, able to be seen by loved ones again after his many solar cycles in hiding, changing his blood, customizing his body, and working whatever evil deeds necessary to get black energon from SinStorm.<br/>
The Phantom’s dearest friend approached him, asking what to do with her remains.<br/>
He didn’t answer because she still stared at the body. SinStorm had said that she would re-ignite, that they would never be rid of her, but that hasn’t happened yet. She lies there as still as any empty shell.<br/>
Lie or not, they don’t want her here anymore. The Phantom glares at her, “Quickly get her into a stasis pod and rocket her off this planet, as far as we can get her. Then pray we don’t ever see her again.”<br/>
From then on, the Phantom wasn’t so much of a leader, he or she became the protector. The Sade would act as a council to monitor and manage the politics so the Phantom, remaining ever anonymous, could be safely unknown to SinStorm should she ever come back. If the Phantom had any political stand, it was by virtual message concerning extreme cases.<br/>
The Phantom, originally, didn’t have a castle or throne. When that happened, the silver-bloods aren’t sure. They’ve only remembered the throne room being where the Phantom rules as the final judge. The Sade castle used to only be thirteen rooms but that gradually changed as well; laws justified the change. The culture changed as well without anyone realizing it. It was almost a matter of pride, how humble you were, and those that believed luxury was necessary needed to be cleansed. The cleansing started with imprisonment, then moved to self harm or torture, then ultimately--- for the severe cases--- termination, the ultimate cleanser. It lessened the evil among the living and purified the offender so they could join the AllSpark as a new being.<br/>
“What they didn’t know,” Gemshade concludes to Megatron, “is SinStorm never left Chrysalis. She didn’t immediately re-ignite like she was supposed to because she was fighting the sister that was trying to take over after her.<br/>
“At first, she refused to go offline and refused to leave Doradus’ vessel but when the new sister, Voidglider, took over, SinStorm realized her plan wasn’t going to work and she changed tactics. Voidglider had to constantly fight her after a couple possessions where she would wake to sloppy surgical wounds and bloodied hands.<br/>
“Because of this and the other chaos Sinstorm was causing, Doradus the First severed SinStorm from her spark--- don’t ask me how that works. SinStorm was on her own, in a sense, but she was no longer bonded to Doradus’ spark and could no longer posses the body she was trapped in.<br/>
“Somehow, by mere but great will, she tore her spark out of the vessel. She drifted through time and space, but came straight back to Chrysalis and possessed the then-Phantom. From there, she gradually changed everything to how it is now.”<br/>
Megatron sits with his arms crossed on the tables Sonica’s body once rested on inside the private room.<br/>
Gemshade wraps it up: “SinStorm used the Sade and the suicide rooms for body parts because the one she had kept breaking down and rotting. The Sade acted as harvesters and their tools were the laws and culture they implemented into society.”<br/>
Megatron looks down at his arms, processing this.<br/>
“Do you believe me?”<br/>
“I’m not sure I do, Gemshade,” He lifts his head, “Sonica told me all her sisters were there. At one time, I was inside her mind via psychic cordial patch...”<br/>
“Yeah, I know, she shared that with me.”<br/>
He blinks a couple times, “Anyway, being there, I could feel all of them. They were present and accounted for. If SinStorm did manage such a feat, Sonica would’ve known about it.”<br/>
“That’s the hitch,” Gemshade steps closer with a finger up, “NONE of the past sisters knew she ever left.”<br/>
“Not even Doradus the First?”<br/>
“Evidence concludes she was deep in some induced dormancy at that time. If Doradus knew, don’t you think she would’ve told the other sisters that they could leave the vessel and return to the AllSpark?”<br/>
Megatron’s brow furrows and he glances down again.<br/>
Gemshade brings up another finger and brings the represented facts together, “You were right, they were all there...or at least, they thought they were.”<br/>
“How would SinStorm have managed that without the others knowing?”<br/>
“It’s hard to say,” Gemshade shrugs with a flat, yet slightly excited, smile, “None of them felt her leave because she had been severed from Doradus’ spark. It may not have been that difficult to leave the vessel after that.”<br/>
Megatron shakes his head, “But SinStorm was there...”<br/>
“Through the silver energon’s connection, Megatron,” Gemshade gets a bit dramatic and touches her head, “See it? She watched her sisters every waking moment through the silver connection. She participated and kept them from knowing that she ever left--- all while she worked from here, on Chrysalis, to destroy her creations who killed her--- and get a new body while she was at it. When Sonica returned the sisters to the AllSpark, she quit watching but probably kept tabs on her to possibly regain the vessel...since only one spark was inhabiting it.”<br/>
“Why didn’t she just kill the silver-bloods with her energon grip?”<br/>
“Because she didn’t have Doradus’ vessel." Gemshade judges him down the length of her face, "Is there more than one bot you know that can do that?"<br/>
Megatron sighs, “What you say is making sense...”<br/>
“But?”<br/>
“But I don’t understand how you know all of this. How do I know you didn’t dream this slag up?”<br/>
“Because Sonica told me.”<br/>
Megatron freezes. The ache he had tucked under his anger flares up and lingers like a sting.<br/>
Gemshade steps closer and sets a hand on his arm near his elbow, “Please, believe me. That’s why we can’t hurt Doradus’ vessel.”<br/>
Megatron stares at her hand touching his arm, wishing so badly it was Sonica’s, “What’s the purpose to preserving the vessel? Sonica is gone and so is Doradus. Her mission to share the types is completed. There’s no point to keeping it anymore.”<br/>
“Of course there is.” Gemshade withdraws, “Doradus will continue.”<br/>
The way his gaze hardens, he’s threatening her, “Don’t give me hope, Gemshade.”<br/>
“What if another sister inhabits it? It’s possible because though the sisters have all returned to the AllSpark, Unicron’s curse remains.”<br/>
“How? Sonica should've re-ignited with a new sister but she didn't.”<br/>
“How long do you think it takes to be forged? Besides, Sinstorm is interrupting the curse, slowing it down like last time.”<br/>
He straightens but keeps his gaze down, “What do you want me to do, Gemshade?”<br/>
“Use that brilliant mind that Sonica loved to save her body and the silver-bloods.”<br/>
“You’re asking for a miracle. I am not Primus.”<br/>
“Nope, but the miracle you mentioned is me. I need to get close to SinStorm without her seeing me. The rest will fall into place.”<br/>
He rolls his eyes and locks them onto hers, “Is that supposed to mean something?”<br/>
“You asked me not to give you hope.” She deadpans, “By the AllSpark, I don’t know what’s going to happen either. The guardian has to do his thing--- whatever that is--- and then the details are vague from there...What?”<br/>
He glances over his shoulder at whatever her eyes locked on on the wall behind him. He sees nothing.<br/>
“Oh. Am I wrong? Well, it’s a good thing I’m not saying anything.” Gemshade shrugs and plops her hands on the table, “Well, my dear Megatron, I know faith isn’t your strong suit but strategy is. Let’s get to work.”</p><p> </p><p>StormCoven, Gemshade, and twenty others representing group captains are gathered with Megatron outside the diner.<br/>
Only Gemshade and StormCoven know that he’s run out of silver energon but Megatron doesn’t look worried in the least. He actually seems tired outside of the real thought he’s put into the plan.<br/>
The first step is to take care of the Sade. They have extra weapons inspired by past ones used against SinStorm which include shields, ghost-lasers, explosives, and a debilitating, forked, electric whip.<br/>
Megatron learns the ghost-lasers are fueled by the user's blood--- it can phase through objects just like the silver-bloods can. He also finds that the whip activates the ring inside them as they have described the effects being that of the barrier around the planet.<br/>
Plans against the Sade are easy. Their next obstacle is Phantom SinStorm.<br/>
“What’s going to keep SinStorm here if she can just fly off?” Gemshade asks.<br/>
“Only the silver-bloods. If she’s gone so far, for so long, just to terminate them all, then 2,000 silver-bloods will keep her here.” Megatron moves a few notes on the data-pad he holds.<br/>
StormCoven grimaces with a one-sided frown, “Let’s not lose all 2,000 of us left.”<br/>
“I agree,” Megatron thinks over the positioning he has and moves a few pieces, “But if we perish, we return to the AllSpark with honor for fighting for what’s right.”<br/>
A few ideas are exchanged towards countering SinStorm. But they’re quickly running out of them.<br/>
SinStorm is more powerful in the vessel. She’ll see them all coming, no matter where they are. Her energon grip is just as deadly. Sonica was very reserved with it and used it one at a time on the energon-sucking terracons Starscream and Knockout made. But this ability is a favorite of SinStorm’s and she has practiced and mastered it. She has held many at once and none of them are sure what that max is.<br/>
Gemshade tells them it’s 75.<br/>
Megatron’s expression scrunches in confusion, “How do you know this?”<br/>
“Sonica told me.”<br/>
“What else did she tell you?”<br/>
“I’ve already told you what she’s told me.”<br/>
“Is that all?”<br/>
“Only that it’s not at all, going to go the way you might think.”<br/>
He leans over her, “And that would be?”<br/>
“I don’t know. I’m telling you exactly what she told me.”<br/>
Just then, they pause, hearing a jet. Megatron stares the exact direction it’s coming from and dismisses the group. Their first task is taking the rings out of each other as carefully, and as quickly, as they can. The leaders leave hesitantly, especially StormCoven, as Megatron takes a couple steps further from the diner. Gemshade tries to linger but he orders her to help the others; she knows the rings better than anyone. She obeys seeing the flash of hatred in his optics.<br/>
Starscream comes into view and lands a long ways from Megatron, who already has his arm cannon aimed.<br/>
He stands and puts his hands up, “Before you terminate me, I need to pass on to you vital information.”<br/>
“Your pitiful apologies mean nothing to me.”<br/>
“I know and that’s not what I’m here for. I’m here because Shockwave sent me.”<br/>
Megatron scrutinizes, “Shockwave?”<br/>
“He’s been helping build and maintain the Phantom’s old shell.” Starscream continues and starts to tell him what he already knows.<br/>
Megatron talks over him, layering his knowledge over Starscream’s who quickly stops talking.<br/>
“Is there anything else?” He warms up the cannon.<br/>
Starscream stares down the barrel, as he has many times before, but this time, he doesn’t fear it. He stares tiredly into Megatron’s eyes, “I want to ask you a similar question: is there anything I can do to assist you?”<br/>
His anger waivers a moment; Starscream is following Sonica’s protocols. Megatron shoves it aside and readies his fire. That sorrow he had tucked away swells and cools his anger. He’s trying to ignite a soaked wick.<br/>
Starscream looks back at the cannon and closes his optics, “For once...I agree with you, Megatron, with all my spark.”<br/>
He almost shoots but Sonica cloaks his mind, she’s all he can see. She once saved this lowlife...he knows he doesn’t deserve to live...what would she do if she were here? Would she let him shoot? His sparks aches so that it zaps all his strength. He drops his arm and fights to stay on his feet. Losing the fight, he falls to one knee. He’s down physically in the same way he’s down within. Resting an elbow on his erected knee, that hand covers his face as the other arm rests on the ground.<br/>
Megatron has never experienced such a weight. If he had a choice, he would NOT being doing this in front of Starscream.<br/>
He glances up, expecting the fool to still be on his feet, ready to go into a lecture that his army needs a leader that isn’t crippled in grief and weak because of something as foolish as affection.<br/>
Starscream kneels on the ground, staring out and beyond an abyss that has sucked him through the floor.<br/>
“Stop acting like your sorry. If you really cared, you would have never stabbed her in the first place,” Megatron notices the warbling in his own voice. He hates it but that gives him no control over it.<br/>
Some anger strikes Starscream’s soaked tone, “I don’t expect you to forgive me but I do expect you to believe me. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. At this point, I’m trying to make use of the things she’s given me: my life, my agency...her belief in me... It was an accident. You were suppose to save her.”<br/>
“There was no white energon to use! You took it!”<br/>
“I know! Why don’t you terminate me already?” He waits as their heavy breaths keep the dead silence at bay, “You can’t, can you? It’s not what she would’ve wanted...I just want to be deserving of her sacrifices on my behalf. Let me do something in your war efforts--- put me on the front lines--- I don’t care. Just...please...believe me and let me do this.”<br/>
“No one will work with you. The silver-bloods want their freedom...and vengeance. They know what you’ve done; including those on Cybertron.”<br/>
Starscream stiffens in shock and stares at him while Megatron slowly stands returns to his feet.<br/>
“No one...is going to help you or believe you.”<br/>
He gets to his feet quickly but the heaviness of his sorrow is still evident in his movements, “Tell them not to terminate me. You can tell them...”<br/>
“I don’t know if I can, Starscream. I’m out of silver energon, it’s only a matter of time before they realize that and I will lose my position here. I don’t need your stain to further diminish my chances at this.”<br/>
“Fine, fine. Just tell me where you want me, I’ll go anywhere.”<br/>
Megatron picks up his data-pad and looks over it. He’s thinking about the Autobots. They can’t fight with the silver-bloods...but they could be a decent back-up plan. “Give me the rest of your silver, you won’t need it anymore. I’m sending you to the Autobots. Fuel them up on coraltine; no matter how they feel afterwards, they need to only have that in their systems.”<br/>
“What? They’re here?”<br/>
“Do as I said.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Blood vs. Mortality</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The silver-bloods take their positions in the buildings and on the ground. Each team leader in charge of 200 and those 10 team leaders stay beside Megatron outside the diner to act as communicators and last line of defense. The teams out there are mixed so there’s less likely a “blackout” in communications.<br/>Gemshade and Starscream have flown back to the Autobots. Gemshade keeps communications with Megatron--- who’s newly fueled with silver energon--- so they will know the moment they need to move.<br/>The Sade haven’t moved out of the castle during their movements into position so bombing it is the plan B.<br/>The armored flyers get ready to carry the explosives when movement to their right catches Megatron’s and the leaders’ attentions.<br/>A vehicle rumbles towards them in a color not native to the planet. It almost looks like someone Megatron knows but the shape isn’t right and the cannon on top is missing. The vehicle gets close enough to transform, ignoring all the weapons aimed at him.<br/>Shockwave run towards them, “Lord Megatron!”<br/>The leaders and StormCoven slowly turn their gazes from the outsider, to the “lord” he knows by name.<br/>Megatron doesn’t have to glance at them to see it. He stays calm, “Shockwave, stop talking. We’re about to execute a plan for freedom.”<br/>His one eyes glances over the silver-bloods who are glaring at him and Megatron. He turns to Megatron again, “Where are the others?”<br/>His gaze narrows; Shockwave is not behaving as himself. “What others?”<br/>“The ones from Cybertron. Didn’t you give Sonica’s body to them?”<br/>The silver-bloods are connecting dots, the outsider speaks the truth. StormCoven turns to him, stiff and wide-eyed.<br/>“You summoned others, Megatron?”<br/>“They came because of Sonica’s death. There were no plans for them to join the fight.”<br/>StormCoven steps between him and the outsider. The silver-bloods aim at Shockwave who stands numbly; strangely still like a puppet.<br/>StormCoven grabs Megatron’s collar, “How many?”<br/>“Five.”<br/>“Hundred?”<br/>“No, just five. As many digits on your hand. They were her closest friends.”<br/>“I mean on your planet, Cybertron. How many?”<br/>Megatron stares tiredly at him, “My kin are just beginning to return to our planet after a terrible famine, I don’t know how many there are now. Last I heard, there were only a few thousand from a single ship.”<br/>“But there’s more?”<br/>“I don’t know. Many perished before we had to evacuate.”<br/>“Megatron...they know where we are! We were made with the intention to be weapons--- are you trying to enslave us?”<br/>Another silver-blood leader steps up, “Are we fighting our leaders because you’ve lied to us?”<br/>Megatron privately searches his senses for any attack...nothing. This is it. The Phantom knew the rebellion would fall apart if they knew about Megatron...which she would have learned from Starscream or Shockwave. With the vessel, she would see regular blooded Cybertronians walking around by a ship. SinStrom knows everything and found the one loose thread to unravel it all.<br/>“I didn’t lie about SinStorm returning. We found you because Sonica knew where you were. I didn’t lie when I said she wanted to free you.”<br/>“Why would she care? Who was she really?” StormCoven is furious now. His grips tightens and he pulls Megatron closer to his snarling face.<br/>They are all angry enough to kill; he knows that look.<br/>What can he do? He can’t lead now that the whole army knows and their resolve to fight is back tracking. They’re beginning to go back to following their age-old traditions to follow their Phantom and Sade. Nothing he says will help anything. There’s nothing he can do; he failed her.<br/>StormCoven shakes him, “Talk, frag you! Why would an outsider like Sonica care about us?”<br/>He shuts his eyes, ready and willing, “Because she was the last Doradus incarnate.”<br/>Shockwave collapses but they don’t notice. StormCoven yells for them to arrest him. They mostly obey but they don’t hesitate to put holes in non-fatal areas of his body and kick their pointed feet into them.<br/>The silver energon spills out of him, along with some of his blue blood.<br/>Megatron almost doesn’t feel the pain as he watches it pool in front of his eyes. His vision blurs and finally the hits cease. He’s barely conscious but he doesn’t need to be to know that they took him back inside the diner, through a window, to tie him up and leave him the custodial nook with the floor cleaners and polishers.<br/>He gets comfortable against the wall. Sonica would be sad to see him quit so he will keep thinking about what to do...if nothing else. He doesn’t want to feel any guilt when he finds her in the AllSpark.</p><p> </p><p>Megatron gets bored after a few ideas during a megacycle and starts counting time. Almost a whole solar cycle goes by while he sits in the nook, uncomfortable but not willing to move, and just...waits...and counts.<br/>There’s a small poke to his hip.<br/>“Are you still ticking, Megs?”<br/>His spark leaps but caution pats it down as he slowly turns.<br/>Gemshade smiles, “Sorry, that was...her nickname for you...wasn’t it?”<br/>He glares disappointedly at her but finds StormCoven standing behind her. “What are you two here for?”<br/>“Sorry, it took him a while to understand why banishment was so nice and then it took even longer to explain how you losers are my friends.” She pulls on him to sit up better. StormCoven helps after a grumpy sigh.<br/>“What now, then? SinStorm has won if no one is going to fight her.”<br/>“That’s just it. We need your help...if you don’t mind helping them after how they’ve treated you.”<br/>StormCoven crosses his arms, “Deserved. I knew he was an outsider and that didn’t bother me until he brought friends--- including Doradus herself.”<br/>Gemshade ignores him, “What do you say? Have any ideas?”<br/>Megatron does, indeed, but looks up at StormCoven. There’s a reason he’s here and he’d like to know it.<br/>The silver-blood sees this prompt and can tell he’ll not get anything until he talks. Reluctantly, he explains, “My kin don’t want to fight anymore. They think your lies have influenced me so they’ve written me off as crazy and won’t listen. I know the Phantom and the Sade are corrupt and it seems you outsiders are the only ones that believe that too.”<br/>“I have recordings of Sonica’s songs,” Gemshade shrugs, “I brought them in case they might help.”<br/>“They won’t,” Megatron looks up to StormCoven, “What happened with Shockwave?”<br/>“Gone.”<br/>Megatron looks back at Gemshade, “Has SinStorm blown up our ships?”<br/>Gemshade blinks, “No...”<br/>“Good, we need to get all the silver-bloods off this planet. SinStorm has all of us here, she can eliminate us in one explosion with a little help from a scientist and engineer--- which Shockwave is.”<br/>“One explosion? You think she’ll bomb the city?”<br/>“No, Chrysalis itself.”<br/>“There are two problems with that...” StormCoven clenches his fists but not at Megatron. The danger has his emergency systems super-fueling him and he’s fighting to stay calm.<br/>“I know,” Megatron interrupts, “The silver-bloods don’t believe us and the barrier will kill them all in a few cycles after we leave the atmosphere...and I don’t think our two ships will carry all 2,000 or so of your population.”<br/>“I pulled a few rings out of them before you ordered me to go with Starscream. Isn’t that motive enough?”<br/>StormCoven sighs and drops his arms, “They see it as the universe’s safety measure. That won’t work...maybe my kin are fated to die.”<br/>“Sonica didn’t want that for you,” Megatron locks eyes with him, “I want you to believe that.”<br/>He nods solemnly but then it breaks, “But that’s not going to help us survive whatever SinStorm has planned for us.”<br/>“You need proof. I suspect that if she’s going to plant a bomb to blow the whole planet, it’ll begin at the center, or as close to the center as possible.”<br/>Gemshade nods but isn’t convinced, “How do you know she’s going to do that? What if we’re wrong and she does something else?”<br/>He smiles, “What does Sonica say?”<br/>Gemshade smirks, “She’d say let’s give it a try.”</p><p> </p><p>Megatron was right. After the long and difficult flight down, plus crawling and squeezing through crevasses, towards the center of the planet, Gemshade and StormCoven found the bomb Shockwave was working on.<br/>He has a long way to go though. It seems he has just started but he has help from the Sade.<br/>But seeing was all that they needed. Between the both of them, they were able to connect to the other silver-bloods and let them see through their eyes. Two witnesses are enough for the population to believe and they gather again to the diner.<br/>StormCoven was about to leave but Gemshade hesitated.<br/>“I’m wondering if I could save Shockwave.”<br/>“Why? Do you know him?”<br/>“Well...he knows Megatron. Maybe they’re friends?”<br/>“He didn’t seem all that concerned. Let’s go.”<br/>“Cruelest assumption I’ve ever heard,” She sets her hands on her hips, “Go on ahead if you want, I want to see if I can save him.”<br/>StormCoven sets a hand on her shoulder, “Gemshade, he’s useful for now and will be fine as long as SinStorm thinks she’s going to win. Let’s go.”<br/>She hesitates but agrees and leaves with him.<br/>Megatron is mended and let back in among the leaders he earlier appointed who are gathered around the data-pad. It didn’t take much for StormCoven to convince them to allow him to lead again.<br/>The rings have been taken out of all the silver-bloods and they listen in on their team leader’s thoughts and visuals.<br/>“We send in the Autobots. I want them to think the silver-bloods are still ignorant and content. When the Sade come out to terminate them, then your kin will ambush them. If things are going terribly wrong, we will cram into the ships at the coordinates I’ve given and we’ll get off this planet as fast as possible.”<br/>Gemshade pops up, “What about Shockwave?”<br/>“Don’t worry about Shockwave, we need to take care of SinStorm and then we’ll find him.” Megatron answers.<br/>She doesn’t totally like the idea but moves on, “How am I going to get close to SinStorm? Is that in your plan?”<br/>“Indeed,” He touches his chin as he looks at her, “You have the element of surprise as you’re assumed to be dead...I think you would make a good Phantom.”<br/>Her eyes widen and they all look to her with kind smiles.</p><p> </p><p>Before the daunting title processes through her busy mind, the silver-bloods are already closing their eyes, purging her from their memories. When they open, their only memory of her will the be day she was destroyed.<br/>As she flies out of the city, her existence shrinks. It’s now, as her people and friends are forgetting her, that she realizes the impact she left on them. Sonica will be with them, because they remember her, but Gemshade won’t though she was just with them. It hurts more than she thought. Sonica’s termination is a close competitor.</p><p> </p><p>Megatron gets most of his memories wiped away. He needs to keep the conversation with her about how SinStorm remained on Chrysalis. All that’s left after that is a notion that a secure plan in place. Time to exercise faith.<br/>The Autobots briefly meet the the silver-bloods. Hands are shaken and smiles are shared, but they turn in unison, to Megatron, ready to fight and prepared to face the danger of war once again.<br/>“This won’t be like anything we’ve ever faced before; not even against someone as powerful as Unicron. If we are all sent to the AllSpark, I’m pleased that we’ll go like this: together. Two kinds, one race, one of every individual. Each of you matters, know that, believe that...every choice you make propels the future forwards so be your best out there.”<br/>Some light smiles respond in kind, from all of them.<br/>“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings,” He smiles back as he remembers Optimus, “let’s get ours.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Front Lines</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Autobots sneak through the city on foot, aiming their guns and keeping their coms on the team leaders who are acting as lookouts through the silver-bloods that move in quietly, and closely, around them.<br/>
Smokescreen tries not to get distracted looking around at everything and stays near Arcee. Bumblebee is just on the other side of Arcee from Smokescreen and he watches the sky for Starscream and Wheeljack. They’re the first attack, similar to the original plan which would have worked better.<br/>
They tried appealing to Megatron, looking for some assurance that they will all be going home. Though they have much confidence in the silver-bloods, they have just as much confidence towards the effects of laserfire.<br/>
He told them what his original plan was only to tell them he plans to use it during this new one.<br/>
The coraltine he ordered them to drink, makes them feel cumbered. The humans complained about something called “fat” and the comparisons are fairly close to what they feel. Their movements are slow and they can simply tell that their laserfire is going to be weak as well. Though they aren’t at top function, they would’ve been better as a back-up plan, as originally organized, and let the many silver-bloods fight, wear down, and destroy their own in a equal match before they move in on SinStorm.<br/>
But they’re here now and hopefully, more safe from the energon grip than the others are.<br/>
They all glance up when they hear Starscream’s turbines. Wheeljack rides on top, like the jet is his surfboard, with several of his grenades in his hands. He drops them as they swoop by and the explosions ring through the small city and send the sound out into the flats.<br/>
A clap of thunder, but sharper, booms from nowhere seven times. The Sade stand in a circle, enclosing the Autobots. They wish so badly they had Sonica’s orange shields.<br/>
Inside their mouths, they’ve already swallowed the last drops of Starscream’s black. It activates in their fuel processors and they disappear. Moments after they do, the surrounding silver-bloods jump into action.<br/>
Metal alloy rings, sprays of silver energon fly, blasts of guns arch over the commotion and put holes in the crowds of new warriors. The banging claps of thunder echo over the city as the third and fourth ambushes are activated.<br/>
The Sade try to reach the leaders and Megatron, as anticipated. More whole-strides through the sound barrier snap, windows rattle, and clear pebbles of the road and sand blow in the waves.<br/>
Two Sade flyers take to the air; no other silver-bloods follow. Wheeljack has already been dropped off on the roof of a skyscraper. He aims his grenade launcher at the one nipping at Starscream’s tail. The one that was hit by the jet’s missile, spins in fire and smoke towards the ground.<br/>
Arcee, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen make it back to the diner when the black runs out and then they contact Knockout to fire up the ships.<br/>
While they moved into position, Knockout managed a way to connect the separate ship controls through the communicators. The connections work and both ships’ engines fire up.<br/>
Megatron wants to ask the others about Gemshade but doesn’t. The Autobots take his commanding position so he can retreat to the ships. He must be as far out of SinStorm’s reach as possible; for the new Phantom’s sake. That has to be the reason he doesn’t remember her after her explanation of the Phantom’s true role.<br/>
He’s flying low to the ground at top speed when StormCoven, through the silver he shared with him, starts relaying the screams of terror from the silver-bloods.<br/>
He banks to a long halt and transforms, listening, watching...<br/>
In the distance, he sees dots in the air above the city...many of them.<br/>
“Megatron! My kin are retreating! We can’t win this!”<br/>
“What’s going on, Coven? Talk to me. I’m already in the flats.”<br/>
“Their bodies! Our friends...their bodies are hovering over our heads...and moving!”<br/>
Megatron curses, “Coven! It’s a scare tactic! She wants you to fear her. You have to ignore it. Push through it. Remember what you’re fighting for!”<br/>
“That’s her energon grip, Megatron! It’s huge! We can’t win! I’m ordering everyone to the ships.”<br/>
“DON’T! You will lead her straight to our evacuation plan! She’ll blow us out of the sky!”<br/>
“Oh Primus...their blood is dripping on us.”<br/>
Megatron disconnects before he calls him a coward. He re-connects, “Coven, SinStorm’s Sade are gone! That’s why she’s doing this--- you need to go back and fight her while her hands are full trying to scare you! Stop everyone right now! Stop them and get them back in the fight. SinStorm cannot hold you and the dead at the same time. Go back!”<br/>
He touches his com to the Autobots and relays similar orders, “I’m counting on you to finish this. Find SinStorm and distract her as long as you can. Get as many silver-bloods as you can to fight back.”<br/>
“Yes sir,”<br/>
He counts all four voices then switches his com to Knockout, “Knockout, take the ships eighty clicks to the south and keep them idling. I will meet the silver-bloods at the original coordinates. Standby for emergency pick up; we’re not ready yet.”<br/>
“Yes Lord Megatron--- sorry.”<br/>
Megatron disconnects and pauses in trying to connect to Gemshade. He still remembers her specific cranial wave-length from the night she taught them how to probe. He itches to connect to her, find out where she is. If he does, he risks learning her location which he can’t know in case SinStorm finds him.<br/>
He goes to contact her anyway. They need to know how much time they have. No. He can’t or it’ll guarantee failure. They have a chance right now to win. But what’s the window of that chance? Contacting her would answer that and ease his mind--- No! No, no, no, NO!<br/>
Megatron transforms and continues with his plan and soars low over the flats to the coordinates that better be empty.<br/>
The screams erupt in his head again.<br/>
“We’re being fired on! We can’t see where it’s coming from! Megatron, we’re losing!”<br/>
“Hold your ground, Coven. Fire back!”<br/>
“We’re trying! It’s not doing anything!”<br/>
Megatron taps into Arcee’s com, “Arcee, report.”<br/>
Static answers.<br/>
He curses and tries Smokescreen, “Report.”<br/>
Nothing.<br/>
He curses twice and tries Wheeljack, Bumblebee, and even Starscream.<br/>
Starscream answers his, “I’m shot down, I’m sorry.”<br/>
“What’s going on?”<br/>
“I tried to find the laserfire out there among the scare tactic she’s using...I failed. I think...it’s black energon.”<br/>
“Starscream, where are the Autobots?”<br/>
“I...I don’t know. I last saw them running into the castle.”<br/>
“How wounded are you? Where are you?”<br/>
Megatron hears the slight smile around his cough, “At the front lines, Megatron, where I’m supposed to be...like the soldier I am.” He coughs again and it sounds bad.<br/>
It makes Megatron cringe.<br/>
“If I...see her before you do...I’ll tell her...you said you miss her.”<br/>
His spark hurts and he hates it. Megatron banks around again with a frustrated war cry and takes off at higher speed and altitude towards the city, “Don’t you dare! I will see her first.”<br/>
Starscream’s chuckle garbles before the connection cuts off.<br/>
Megatron connects again to Knockout, “Take the ships back to the original coordinates and prepare for boarding. I’m going back to the city to deal with this myself.”<br/>
“A-a-are you sure that’s wise? You have silver in your blood. She’ll see you coming! You aren’t saturated in that...disappointing stuff!”<br/>
He has no retort so he turns off his com. He re-connects to StormCoven and gives permission for retreat though he’s almost certain now they won’t make it.<br/>
His decision to go face-to-face with SinStorm is just ten-times more idiotic but it’s all he can do now. However, if he can distract SinStorm just long enough for the silver-bloods to retreat, it’ll be worth it.<br/>
Then he can tell her...he tried.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Vessel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gemshade dives from the air, seeing the center from above where the laserfire is emanating.<br/>
In the dive, she remembers Sonica, Starscream, Megatron, Zetafreeze...and all her past friends who left their shells behind to rest in the AllSpark. This is for them. This is to finally bring peace to them, where ever they are.<br/>
She gets closer.<br/>
The laserfire takes down another building; burying the unconscious and dead under the rubble.<br/>
She gets even closer.<br/>
The silver-bloods are transformed and fleeing in the air and on the ground, squeezing through smaller roads. The ones hit, transform into bot mode before they are terminated by the strike of laser or crushed by crumbling spires.<br/>
Gemshade is directly above when a flash of orange hits and sends her over-turning in the air into a building.<br/>
SinStorm reveals herself, floating in the air and coming straight for Gemshade.<br/>
Gemshade is barely managing to shake herself awake in the indent she made in the side of a roof.<br/>
<b>“You’re the one who caused all this.”</b> Her crazed eyes widen her grin as she raises the orange mace in her hands, <b>“Thank you for bringing Sonica to me. I desperately needed her.”</b><br/>
Gemshade glares back, trying not to watch the mace, “You’re welcome. Would you like rotting parts with that?”<br/>
SinStorm chuckles at her joke and brings the mace down at full strength. Just inches from Gemshade’s face, the orange is suddenly ripped away and sent whirling in the opposite direction.<br/>
She opens her eyes and sees SinStorm turn, then smile almost as sweetly as Sonica.<br/>
Her expression shifts and she holds out her arms, “Megs! Help me!”<br/>
His flyer form arches straight up.<br/>
Gemshade curses, “Hey ugly! You were about to terminate me, finish what you started, freak!”<br/>
SinStorm, looking up and watching Megatron, suddenly twists unnaturally at the neck to look directly down at Gemshade, <b>“Would you talk to Primus that way? I think not.”</b><br/>
The energon inside Gemshade constricts and Sonica’s face of terror returns.<br/>
“I don’t want to do this, Gemshade, I have no choice, help me.”<br/>
She’s only able to move her fingers, just enough for a shrewd gesture.<br/>
SinStorm ignores it, then turns back to Megatron, calling him in Sonica’s voice. “Help me! I don’t want to hurt her! Megs! Please!”<br/>
He shows up, hovering in front of SinStorm, his cannon warm and ready. “Knock it off, I know you aren’t her. She’s far stronger than you.”<br/>
She cackles, <b>“How do you know, dust sucking scraplet?”</b> She pauses, knowing he’s not going to fire, <b>“That’s right, you don’t!”</b><br/>
Megatron can’t move but he is forced to transform. His t-cog burns and his parts scrape and scratch abnormally. His edges and innards are smelting the rest of him. In bot form, he’s pulled in close, pressed against her.<br/>
<b>“She left her memories behind, you know. I see what she saw in you.”</b> SinStorm blocks Gemshade’s attack with a flick of her hand. Then, with the same hand, she stabs a hole just under his chest plating.<br/>
Around the agony, new pain amplifies in waves and it shifts around with her wiggling fingers. He doesn’t feel the energon dripping from his mouth but sees it splat on her upper arm.<br/>
<b>“When you said she needed someone who could handle her, she believed it. Sly One...should have been Desperate Whore.”</b> She cackles, <b>“You and I both know she was. She shared static with everyone before she did you. Your fragging each other was so brief. I think you’re tied with Starscream--- I’ll have to check later, I was almost too amused to count.”</b><br/>
Megatron hangs there, watching his blood fall to the blurry ground below. He just waits, listening to his own spark, waiting for it to quit.<br/>
SinStorm deflects a large rock and turns around towards Gemshade a long ways behind her. Then she disappears after a long step.<br/>
SinStorm waits for her to reappear, with a bang, right behind her.<br/>
Gemshade pops up in front of her and throws sand in her face.<br/>
She recoils and swings Megatron around to swat her away but Gemshade is falling. Then she transforms and flies straight up again. She slams into Megatron, hearing a pop as he’s lifted off SinStorm’s arm by Gemshade’s front end.<br/>
SinStorm still digs at her eyes and face while Gemshade tries to gently land and set him on the ground. She mostly body slams him then tumbles over in the dust they made. Gemshade recovers quickly, looking at SinStorm who’s floating towards them. She crawls to Megatron, gently grabbing his face.<br/>
“Hold on, Megs, please hold on. This will be over soon...”<br/>
SinStorm grabs the back of her neck and lifts her up, <b>“You pathetic glitch.”</b><br/>
Gemshade smiles, “This is perfect.”<br/>
SinStorm remembers suddenly and lets go, but it’s too late. The hand that grabbed Gemshade glows and will not obey her. With a cry, she lifts the other hand and finds all the silver-bloods still within Chrysalis’ atmosphere--- that’s all of them left. If she’s going down, she will take her abominations with her. She commands her grip to have the energon inside them crush their sparks but something interrupts.<br/>
She looks at her hand and the glow has crawled up to her elbow. It’s not that, that interrupted. She glances over the horizon, looking for them, and they show.<br/>
The same glow that crawls up her arm, manifests in different shapes and sizes of transformers.<br/>
Gemshade recognizes Breakdown at the front of the continuously appearing sparks, shaped as their previous vessels, hovering towards her.<br/>
SinStorm laughs, <b>“Do you know what this proves? I am the new Primus! Come to me!”</b><br/>
They stop once they have encircled her.<br/>
SinStorm whirls around, glancing at all of them. They don’t move but watch. Frowning, she goes to grab Megatron again.<br/>
Optimus, crouched beside him, interrupts the attempted grip by a simple stern look.<br/>
She tries to grab Gemshade.<br/>
Zetafreeze stands in front of her, glaring.<br/>
SinStorm tries once again for the silver bloods outside the ring of spirits. All the arms of departed silver-bloods cross in unison, including that of the first Phantom who gives her a deeper, hateful glare.<br/>
Though she doubts it’ll work, she tries the Autobots and immediately senses the coraltine in their systems. It’s not enough to even make them tickle--- if she could reach them around the short bot with horns who shakes a finger at her.<br/>
That’s when she realizes the bodies she had...are gone as well.<br/>
<b>“Well?”</b> She sceams, <b>“What are you waiting for? Come for me!”</b><br/>
Breakdown bends into a racing start, <i>“I’m the only one going to do that.”</i><br/>
SinStorm’s eyes widen and she stiffens. Chrysalis rumbles as a tear in the physical atmosphere is widened by a gigantic hook and a spiked club. Large, curved horns rise in the tear before the violet eyes do.<br/>
SinStorm’s facade breaks and she screams at her maximum volume, <b>“Unicron! you cannot touch me! I am Primus’ equal!”</b><br/>
The spiked limb changes into a hand as his voice bellows, “HE LET ME OUT...JUST TO COME AND GET YOU.”<br/>
Breakdown takes a running start at SinStorm’s back, <i>“This is for Sonica!”</i><br/>
He leaps, straightens, and dives into her body. Ghosting through, he grabs SinStorm’s spark, tackling it out of Doradus’ vessel.<br/>
SinStorm claws at him, getting a grip on him and not letting go. Doradus the First sets a hand on Breakdown’s shoulder and pushes SinStorm off of him.<br/>
She flails, screaming, yelling, cursing as she’s pulled into the palm of Unicron’s hand.<br/>
He pulls his closed fist towards him and looks at it a moment, “SHE DESTROYED MY FOLLOWER...BECAUSE HIS BLOOD IS ON HER HANDS, SHE WILL TAKE HIS PLACE.”<br/>
Unicron’s horns are the last piece of him seen before the atmosphere mends with a powerful windstorm. In the blustering gusts, the spirits disappear, one by one. Optimus smiles at Megatron before he’s whisked away.<br/>
<i>“See you soon, old friend.”</i><br/>
His words linger in the wind as Gemshade covers the wound in his middle against the sand with her own body. She feels herself lift a little, as the gusts threaten to carry her away. They even slide across the roof.<br/>
Some of the heavy debris is moved and tumbles across the roads. The parts that hit the buildings, peel more layers of metal before the pieces detach and tumble into the air. A sandy, quartz spire topples and shakes the ground. Parts of the Sade castle tumble like a landslide.<br/>
When the wind finally ebbs, everything is quiet.<br/>
Gemshade sits up, “Megatron? Megatron, are you still online?”<br/>
His optics are shut and his body isn't moving.<br/>
“Megatron?”<br/>
She gets a ping to her mind and she looks up as she receives it from StormCoven. There’s a wave of excitement before the two ships from Cybertron start lowering to the ground. The air disturbance from them seems little after the earlier gusts.<br/>
One of the ships land nearby on a shorter, but wider, skyscraper. The other hovers near the building they are on. The boarding deck from the belly of the smaller ship opens.<br/>
Knockout stands there, sees them, then glances over the gap. He tries to protest but Smokescreen comes from the side, grabbing his upper arm, and they run and jump.<br/>
Knockout hollers but they land at the edge, with a little to spare. Knockout crawls away from him, letting out a big curse word.<br/>
“Smokescreen, if you do that again, I’ll kill you!”<br/>
“I told you we would make it...and you didn’t believe me.”<br/>
He tenses but takes the medical kit off his back in a huff and strides over to Megatron. His demeanor changes immediately.<br/>
“This doesn’t look good,” He crouches and scans him. Barely reading the scan results, he sees enough in a glance to hang and shake his head, “He’s barely online...he’s too wounded for me to do anything about it.”<br/>
Gemshade’s brow furrows as she turns to him, “Megatron, I told you to hold on...”<br/>
Knockout watches her reaction, a little surprised by it but looking down at Megatron, it doesn’t seem that surprising at all. They’ve been on this strange, sandy ball for a while and Megatron hasn’t been the tyrant he knew so well. Gemshade sees him as a dear friend and, after this whole ordeal, he does too.<br/>
<i>“Maybe this will help?”</i><br/>
Knockout and Gemshade look up and find Breakdown holding Doradus’ vessel.<br/>
Gemshade stands and talks to him like on old friend. Knockout has yet to move and his systems are straining under the shock.<br/>
Breakdown turns to him and smiles, <i>“Hey, you look good.”</i><br/>
Knockout stands slowly, almost falling twice, but gets on his feet and walking is automatic again. He lifts a hand, “Breakdown?”<br/>
He looks at his hand, a little sad, <i>“I can’t touch you; just...the one I asked to guard.”</i><br/>
“I understand,” Knockout nods, “but I’m glad I get to talk to you.”<br/>
His brow turns up in the middle, <i>“Just long enough for a proper good bye.”</i><br/>
Knockout smiles, “Good bye then...for now.”<br/>
Breakdown steps closer and tries touching his forehead to Knockout’s. They just barely feel it before he fades away, <i>“Good bye for now.”</i></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Purpose</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Gemshade sets Doradus’ vessel down beside Megatron. It’s clean with just a little scaring left from puncture wounds to the midrif.<br/>
Smokescreen watches her scoot Doradus’ vessel closer, up against Megatron’s side. “What are you doing?”<br/>
She shushes him while she tries to gently nudge Megatron awake, “Hey, Mega-dunce, come out of it just a little, please? I’ve got a surprise for you.”<br/>
The only movement is from her shaking him.<br/>
Smokescreen crouches beside her, “It’s no use. He’s gone.”<br/>
“No he’s not. His spark is still in there.” Gemshade shakes him a little harder, getting more upset, “Megatron. She lies right next to you, do you feel her? She’s here, just wake up...”<br/>
Smokescreen glances at Sonica’s body; it’s just as quiet as Megatron’s.<br/>
Her anger snaps and she lifts him by the collar, roaring behind her teeth, “Open your eyes, lame-aft!”<br/>
He moves to calm her down just as she drops him.<br/>
Megatron’s head drops and tips away from them.<br/>
Gemshade sighs, “Sonica has been with me since I took her body to you guys...until now. She knew most of how this would all happen...but she wasn’t going to take her body back if Megatron wasn’t going to stay in his. I don’t know where she is now but I think she waits to find out.” Her voice shorts out at the end and she's irritated by it.<br/>
Slight movement draws their eyes.<br/>
Megatron’s fingers twitch, trying to enclose around the delicate hand near his.<br/>
They perk up and Sonica opens her eyes.<br/>
Smokescreen freezes and Gemshade relaxes.<br/>
Sonica turns her head to Megatron then sets a hand over his wound. It heals quickly under her touch and Megatron’s respiratory system kicks in to regulate his systems and finally wake him.<br/>
His hand encloses hers as he opens his eyes.<br/>
Sonica smiles widely and sweetly, “Hey Mister Blue-eyes.”<br/>
Megatron rolls towards her a little, only to plant a hand on the other side of her body. He lifts himself, despite any lingering soreness, then lowers gently, touching his lips to Sonica’s.<br/>
Gemshade looks away, turning to Smokescreen who lets out a flat sigh and looks back at her. She shrugs and whispers, “Gross.”<br/>
It makes him chuckle a little.<br/>
Then she scans the others in the window of the near-by hovering ship,  then to the roof where the second one unloads full of her kin...all 900 or so of them. The grief is heavy as they find those that didn’t get away from SinStorm or the Sade.<br/>
She doesn’t see who she’s looking for.<br/>
“Looking for Starscream?” Sonica asks as Megatron helps her up.<br/>
Gemshade blinks, “Yeah, actually. Does that exhaust cloud still float?”<br/>
Sonica points at the air.<br/>
She looks and his jet form comes right at them before going up a short ways to transform and land.<br/>
Gemshade jumps on him before he completely straightens and they fall onto the ground.<br/>
Teasingly, Sonica yells over the top of his exclaims, “I’m happy and well, Starscream. Thanks for checking.”</p><p> </p><p>They later found Shockwave, collapsed and terminated. Sonica’s analysis of him told her SinStorm did a nasty transfusion tie. It’s the darkest ability of the silver energon that only Doradus can perform. Basically, SinStorm tied hers and his blood together so when her spark stopped pumping and her blood went still, his blood did the same; even if his spark was strong, it couldn’t stay alight with dead fuel. Shockwave’s body slowly shut down as the poison of his dead blood ceased his systems before finally snuffing out his spark.<br/>
Sonica wept for him and insisted they take his body home; away from the place that was his undoing.<br/>
The 954 silver-bloods left, burned their dead. They spent the next couple solar cycles gathering those from the battle and the suicide rooms, to destroy the evidence of their existence.<br/>
In this span of time, a few more silver-bloods joined their departed kin; dropping their populace to a staggering 898.<br/>
StormCoven didn’t stop them and Sonica sat with him as his numbness finally started to ebb. In a moment while he sat by the fire consuming the new dead, his emotions finally released.<br/>
“We’re cursed,” He started before it overflowed, “I can’t be strong for them when I want to join them. I miss every single spark we’ve lost. They don’t deserve death...but we don’t deserve to live either. We were made for evil with no other purpose. What do the rest of us do now that we’re free? What point is there to our existence?<br/>
“Megatron said we wouldn’t be defeated with the righteous desire for freedom engraved on our sparks...but there’s so few of us left... We fought for nothing. We continue to dwindle...trying to escape the pain of emptiness.”<br/>
Sonica embraces him, “StormCoven, SinStorm gave silver-bloods life but she didn’t give you purpose. You rejected her purpose so it’s time to make your own. Your fight, your sacrifices... they stopped her from burdening you with her intentions.”<br/>
She moves back to look him in the eye. Megatron comes up in her peripheral but stops a respectful distance away.<br/>
Sonica cups StormCoven’s face and calls him by name, “What do you want to do? Throw away the limits and the self doubt--- if nothing was in your way, what would you do? What would you use your abilities for?”<br/>
He didn’t answer her and the finalizing work needed to be done towards getting the ships ready for launch.<br/>
During the megacycles of finalizing, Megatron came up behind her, embracing her, “If nothing was in my way, I know what I’d like to do.”<br/>
“Yeah?”<br/>
“Spend a steady, peaceful, and quiet life...with you.”<br/>
Her soft smile was brighter than a large star, “That sounds nice.”<br/>
Starscream approached her a short time later while she was checking the fuel lines.<br/>
“I never got the chance to...”<br/>
“I’m fine, Starscream. I know you didn’t mean to kill me.” She pauses with a funny face and he braces himself, “You know what, you’re either really bad at termination or you’re cursed...Megatron and I didn’t stay dead.”<br/>
He almost chuckles; instead, he manages a weird smile, “Lucky me.”<br/>
She got a good giggle out of it.<br/>
“But I want to...I didn’t get the chance before...”<br/>
Sonica turns to him and the eye contact burns.<br/>
Starscream lowers in obeisance, “I...apologize...with every piece of my spark...I’m so...so sorry.”<br/>
She crouches and touches his shoulder, clearing her throat and glancing at Smokescreen who has stopped to watch with his arms crossed, “Um, Starscream. Thank you for your apology. I accept.”<br/>
“I don’t deserve it.”<br/>
She fidgets, “Just don’t do it again and we’re fine. Alright?”<br/>
“But if you see yourself so deserving,” Smokescreen interrupts and Starscream looks up, “we do have prison cell and all that Autobot nobility nonsense.”<br/>
“Okay you two, hold on,” Sonica stands, “First of all, if I hadn’t been terminated, I wouldn’t have ever remembered the information concerning my guardian. They expected SinStorm to take over the vessel from the beginning and they told me this. SinStorm overheard and erased my memory of that discussion. Got it?<br/>
“Second, if I hadn’t been terminated, I would’ve also been subject to SinStorm’s possession and that would’ve risked our sparks re-joining--- as they were, at one point, connected--- and I wouldn’t have been able to save anyone from going offline,” She turns to Starscream, “including you. You were nearly gone when I found you and I was able to help because I wasn’t trapped in a possessed body.<br/>
“So there were no mistakes because the past actions taken made it all work out fine.” Sonica snorts and looks back at Starscream, “You seem to have a knack for that too; happy accidents.”<br/>
The best smile he had was a sheepish one.<br/>
Gemshade is the only silver-blood that has been set on leaving and Sonica worried about it.<br/>
“What if they don’t leave, are you going to come with us regardless?”<br/>
She sighed after strapping some things down, “This isn’t my home; hasn’t been for some time. I’m not staying here.”<br/>
Sonica finally accepted the answer despite watching Gemshade burn the small ring of alloy pieces from her past friends and loved ones.<br/>
“If I don’t move forward,” she finally said after grieving the precious object melting in the blaze, “I’ll die as they did and they wouldn’t want that for me.”<br/>
Gemshade kept herself busy and took every opportunity to wave to Starscream when she saw him--- poking the fires and turning the ashes as assigned. No one would let him do anything else. But it did make a lovely ambiance to their last conversation.<br/>
She came up next to him as he threw more fuel in, “I knew you were an excellent wish granter. Still in business for more?”<br/>
He almost smirks, “I’ve over-extended myself granting your three large ones. I’m not sure my powers will return or not.”<br/>
Gemshade smiles mischievously, “Perhaps they passed onto another?”<br/>
She moves closer and he glances over her before staring her in the eyes.<br/>
“What are your wishes, stranger?”<br/>
He sort of fights the smile but it flickers with a smirk, “I want my powers back and the ability to do whatever the slag I want.”<br/>
Gemshade nods slowly, “Anything else?”<br/>
“Exploring sounds nice. I’ve gotten quite used to traveling all the time and I don’t think I can suddenly break the habit.” He leans close to her face and she doesn’t flinch.<br/>
She runs a single static finger under his chin and walks away, “I’ll see what I can do.”<br/>
After all was said and done, and the majority vote that Starscream be cuffed and locked up overruled, they were ready to leave.<br/>
Megatron found her standing just before the landing deck, staring beyond it into deep thoughts. He puts an arm softly around her as he comes up beside her, “What are you going to do?”<br/>
“There’s nothing I can do if the silver-bloods don’t want to live.”<br/>
“I thought you were going to make that decision.”<br/>
“I still plan to,” She steadies an upset emotion, “I’m preparing myself for it.”<br/>
Megatron holds her tighter, “You don’t have to do it that way.”<br/>
She embraces him and rests her head, “It would be the honorable thing to do. Doradus made them, and with their permission, she will take them back.”<br/>
He feels her shaking under his hands.<br/>
“Will you...stand with me until it’s over?”<br/>
“Of course.”<br/>
Two long hugs and a few pep talks later, they finally lower the deck and she steps out with Megatron beside her and holding him tightly.<br/>
All 865 silver-bloods stand in front of her, StormCoven being at the front.<br/>
Sonica makes eye contact with all those that she can before landing her gaze on him. His expression is anxious, that’s all she can read. She tightens her hold on Megatron.<br/>
He steps forwards, uncertain and scared, “We still don’t have an answer for you, Sonica Doradus.”<br/>
The dread breaks her hope and she braces herself. Her whole body shakes and Megatron’s snug hold doesn’t stop it.<br/>
“We’ve never left this planet; we have no purpose here. And we’ve heard about all the wars...”<br/>
She nods; trying to look understanding.<br/>
“We can’t answer your question because we don’t know what’s out there.” He glances over his shoulder, getting confirming looks from the others. “If it’s not too much trouble, Sonica Doradus...”<br/>
She forces herself to stand tall and Megatron is the one keeping her on her feet.<br/>
“We’d like to go with you...to Cybertron.”</p><p> </p><p>The shockwave of the broken barrier barely shake the ships as they hover way above the ground.<br/>
“That peaceful life you talked about,”<br/>
“Yes?”<br/>
“Does it matter where?”<br/>
He chuckles, “I suppose it doesn’t, since you’re quite attached to those silver-bloods.”<br/>
Arcee directs the take off with half of the silver-bloods crammed onto her ship and the rest packed in with Megatron and Sonica, if they aren’t helping with the controls. They lit up, learning the new tech and we’re excited to help the ship follow the other into the space bridge.<br/>
Sonica rests her head on his shoulder as they watch them awe in wonder. “I suppose I am...and I’m also responsible for them.”<br/>
“Are there going to be more?”<br/>
“No, because one thing is true, they are very powerful.”<br/>
“I agree that is for the best.”<br/>
“Our next quest will be...will Cybertron be kind to them?”<br/>
“Even if it isn’t, they will have more than they did on Chrysalis.”<br/>
Cybertron comes into view. The lights are bright and reflecting off the new metal of the newly constructed buildings. As they follow the landing dock lights, they see many more transformers below, bustling about to do their jobs for the arrivals.<br/>
The silver-bloods immediately get their weary attention, piled up against the windows to look at everything.<br/>
Ultra Magnus is the first to greet them and he shakes all of their hands. As they pile together, they awkwardly wave at passing Cybertronians; like sheep meeting collies.<br/>
When Ultra Magnus finds Sonica and Megatron, his smile changes and he’s more pleased to see them.<br/>
He warmly welcomes them back before getting straight to business, “What do we do with our new friends?”<br/>
Sonica turns to Megatron, “We need a big house.”<br/>
“You don’t mean...” His eyes are wide.<br/>
She stares back seriously, “Yes, Megs. They need us; just until they are able to be out on their own. Please?”<br/>
There’s a brief and awkward moment where Megatron exchanges glances with Ultra Magnus. The Autobot’s optics dart a different direction; he’s got no say in the matter.<br/>
He looks down at his side, into Sonica’s owl stare. He debates his words for a moment then dares to ask, “How about guest houses?”<br/>
"I like it."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Silver-Blood Missions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ratchet watches the inserted camera feed as the silver-blood is phasing through the patient’s armor for a surgery.<br/>Sonica sent this youth to him because he was really curious about biology and was a thoughtful spark. He’s proving to be a quick study and shows kind submissiveness to instruction.<br/>This surgery is a minor one, a simple removal of old shrapnel, and the patient is comfortably in stasis to ease the silver-blood’s nerves. He’s as nervous and he is excited.<br/>Ratchet points out a few more things before the youth carefully rounds a corner and finds the shrapnel piece. He exclaims excitedly and Ratchet sees a glow in him that he hasn’t had in himself for ages. For a moment, he sees his younger self in this silver-blood.<br/>As memorized, he removes it as previously instructed and begins to pull the piece out.<br/>Ratchet watches in amazement. Phasing through things makes surgery so easy. If he could do that, he would never worry about making mistakes again.<br/>The youth holds the piece between his fingers as he withdraws. They both quietly cheer until the shrapnel piece yanks out of his grip. It clinks inside; they both hear it.<br/>“I’m so sorry...” He grimaces as Ratchet rolls his eyes and face-palms his forehead. “I forgot that not everything can phase-shift like I can.”<br/>They did manage to get it out the silver-blood’s way. He simply needed to hold the piece in his fist so his phasing ability could transfer into the shrapnel. He learned to do this with repair tools too, stopping the energon leak where the piece of metal used to be.<br/>Ratchet congratulated him and the silver-blood asked for more.<br/>Retirement has made him soft. He stays for another megacycle to teach him more.</p><p># # #</p><p>Megatron helps man the loop-loader for the silver-blood mining crew but it’s not being used as it typically would. It’s because the silver-bloods are lined up, ready to deposit the clusters they found so the load-looper can fill the train cart. All those that have empty arms, drop through the ground where the energon was detected, and after a while, they walk back up with full arms.<br/>One of the silver-bloods, promptly after unloading his arm full, walks to Megatron, “Is there something harder to do?”<br/>He almost laughs, “Go ask Sonica.”<br/>Then another silver-blood asks the same thing, and another one, and another...until the whole line is asking if they can quit.<br/>“I suppose you can.” He forces himself not to be offended. They had a long discussion about it, the first night in their new home, that the silver-bloods are going to be excited about everything, now that they finally have the room to grow. Their jobs as hosts, are to encourage and feed that excitement, not insult it. Until they’ve explored all their options, they need all the freedom they need to choose what they want--- so they get used to thinking of their wants and expressing them.<br/>As he looks over their waiting gazes, he formulates his words like Sonica would. She has a knack of getting her way when she offers them free choice. He tries it: “I just want to tell you how extremely helpful you’ve been doing this. Though it’s easy for you, it’s hard for the rest of us as we have to dig, then we’re risking our sparks going into tunnels that could collapse. If you’re really bored, go find Sonica or Ultra Magnus but be polite.”<br/>A few of them leave but a good handful stay behind, exchanging glances as Megatron sit back at the controls and gets it ready to tow the train cart to the processing plant.<br/>“If we don’t help, are you going to start digging?”<br/>“It’s likely. We need this energon as more Cybertronians return.”<br/>They unanimously agree on something and the leader speaks again, “How much more? We’ll finish for the day then look at doing something else.”<br/>Megatron’s chuckle sneaks out of him, “Fine by me.”<br/>It worked. But he also finds it funny; the caste work that marked the beginning of his suffering...bores the silver-bloods enough to make them walk away.</p><p># # #</p><p>“And that’s how you play Cube, ready?” One transformer asks the silver-blood femme after mustering up a lot of courage.<br/>“Got it, let’s do it.” She crouches and locks optics on the Cube.<br/>The Cybertronian tosses it straight up and a few of his friends leap to grab it. The Cube dodges until one of them tackles it. But when he gets tackled by another friend, the Cube squeezes out, going high up. The Cybertronians get ready, climbing up on top of near by rubble, standing right below it, and getting ready to climb the others to get it.<br/>The Cube starts to come straight down when the silver-blood femme shows up in the blink of an optic with a loud bang.<br/>She lands, still holding it until it surrenders its energy. Whooping for joy, she leaps in the air; mid-sentence of her question for another round, she suddenly realizes she’s alone.<br/>Then she finds them, in the distance, running like their lives depend on it.<br/>Sonica did tell her and her kin, whole-stride would startle Cybertronians...she forgot.</p><p># # #</p><p>Bulkhead stands by the silver-blood StormCoven, half phased through the bottom of a generator.<br/>“Do you see the conductors?”<br/>“Yeah! Just like you described. This is so amazing!”<br/>“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just be really careful. This thing has to power up the next several blocks of apartments. Move slowly.”<br/>“Got it, got it, okay, what’s next?”<br/>Bulkhead speaks slowly; mostly because he has to describe the looks of all the parts he’s talking about. Then he has to remember how he described them so this excited bot doesn’t zap himself mistaking one cylindrical part with the other cylindrical part with the funny ends...what’s harder is he doesn’t know what robota-possums are and other like-creatures so it makes it even more difficult...and painfully slow.<br/>StormCoven is very good at communicating though, and a few times Bulkhead has to correct him. But otherwise, it’s going really well.<br/>“Alright, we’re going to do a test run.”<br/>“I’ll say here and make sure the connections are working.”<br/>“Fine, but don’t adjust anything if it’s not functioning right. Here we go,” He flips the large leaver and the machine starts churning. Gauges flicker and wiggle and pressurizers move slowly, as they should during the warm up, and everything seems to be moving as it should. Then in the back, he sees one intermittently shifting, that’s the next part they’ve got to fix.<br/>StormCoven remembers the name of that circuit and asks if it’s running smooth. Bulkhead tells him no but he waits just a little longer to see if it’ll kick in before the other machines start to rely on it. It’s not doing so good and Bulkhead steps back to pull the leaver again when StormCoven starts thrashing into a seizure.<br/>Bulk moves to grab him and pull him out but StormCoven phases out of the generator. Somehow still conscious and alert, the bot has the gall to make a sheepish face at him from the floor.<br/>“Mech, I told you not to adjust anything while the machine is running.” He turns it off, “Are you okay?”<br/>“Yeah, I phase-shifted just before the shock hit so it didn’t fry anything.”<br/>“That’s extremely lucky,” He glances over him and realizes the light isn’t tricking his optic sensors, StormCoven has waves of glowing light rolling under his plating across the pieces of his exposed proto-form. “Are you sure you’re okay? I think you need to see Sonica.”<br/>“No, no, I’m fine. It’ll go away.”<br/>Bulkhead doesn’t believe him and it shows, “Listen, I say this because I care: I’m taking you home and talking to Sonica about what happened.”<br/>“No, no, no, please don’t. She freaked out last time.”<br/>Bulkhead doesn’t hide his incredulous expression.<br/>“I love this job. I’ve never used my brain so much in my life. If I go back and tell her, she might forbid me from coming back. She did that to Gyro and I don’t want that to happen to me.”<br/>Bulk stands there, debating, but still trying to process that this kid has survived being electrocuted twice with voltage levels that would put someone his big green size in critical condition.<br/>StormCoven claps his hands together and begs, “Please?”<br/>Bulkhead caves and the silver-blood gets sappy with his thanks, “No, don’t do that; stop it. I’ll let it slide this time but if you get electrocuted again, you tell her the whole truth. I had nothing to do with your decision to keep going. Got that?”<br/>He nods vigorously.<br/>Bulk sighs; he can already hear Sonica teasing him about being a push-over.</p><p># # #</p><p>Smokescreen gets the next file of complaints from the law enforcement captain. He can’t help but notice as he scrolls through it... “It’s longer than usual.”<br/>“Yes, I did that on purpose.” He gives him a high-browed, tired look. <br/>It’s because Smokescreen is in charge of the few silver-bloods that recently joined the force.<br/>He nods once, trying to smother his exasperation but failing because the flat-line that is his mouth and gaze.<br/>Sonica asked him to, touched his shoulder and promised to make it up to him; maybe writing a song about him and performing it on their first holiday on Cybertron. He couldn’t say no.<br/>The moment he exits the captain’s office, all seven of them, from all directions, sweep in through desks and co-workers then surround him in a tight circle. Smokescreen never thought he would be the claustrophobic type but these guys make him otherwise. He has to remind them almost every time to back up.<br/>He starts walking into them, as he’s learned to do or they won’t let him walk, and reveals the file.<br/>“It’s so big this time,” One of them gasps over his shoulder.<br/>The shorter one in front of him touches the top of the data pad to peek, “Oh yeah, look at that.”<br/>The femme in the group waves it off, “More for us then. What is it? Bad guys?”<br/>Smokescreen sighs.<br/>“Bad guys” is their term since he used it to describe that whako from Gemshade’s first ship with the love-struck captain. It turns out, that “second” captain is having more than a few issues being demoted to citizen and protested with some pyrotechnics, almost burning up a neighboring resident. If the silver-bloods weren’t excited about the fire and rescue, they were pumped about hunting the “bad guy” down and pouncing him--- literally. The bot was hospitalized because they all jumped at once, making sure he couldn’t get away. But at least that shaved off four more who’s interest piqued at the medical facilities. The seven in front of him used to be fifteen.<br/>“No, I don’t think there’s bad guys this time,” He can feel their disappointment, “This is mostly door-to-door work. Handling complaints and a missing bot.”<br/>He scrolls further down to the bottom and finds an alert symbol; theft report. Smokescreen tries to scroll up before they see it but it’s too late.<br/>“Bad guy! I saw it!”<br/>“Where?”<br/>“Bottom,”<br/>“What kind?”<br/>“Thief,”<br/>“YES!”<br/>“Where’s the location, teacher?” The only femme in the group gets really close to him; but her, he doesn’t entirely mind. She’s the one that got the others to call him “teacher” and they’ve been a little more respectful since. They certainly listen better. However, “respectful” doesn’t mean, “less enthusiastic” and Smokescreen wishes badly that it did.<br/>He lets her see and her optics glimmer, “That’s in downtown. We could go right there with whole-stride and come back.”<br/>“Yeah!” The others chime in and start offering to take other assignments on the list.<br/>“We could get done fast, teacher.”<br/>“Gives us more time to find bad guys.”<br/>“No, no, no,” Smokescreen puts up a finger, “I’ll tell you, for the hundredth time, no solo missions until you’re fully trained. Until then, we’re flying and driving.”<br/>The femme touches a knuckle to her chin and her brow scrunches pensively.<br/>He’s seen her do this five times and it’s quite cute.<br/>“We can take passengers in whole-stride,” She states but not with certainty, “Right? Could we do that as a group and get everything done?”<br/>There are shrugs in the midst of their theorizing and Smokescreen, feeling a touch of fear, stops them there, “You’re not testing that on me. Find that out on your own time. We’ve got work to do.”<br/>“Yes, teach.”<br/>“We’re with you, teacher.”<br/>“Yeah, thanks, teacher.”<br/>He smiles at the femme.<br/>The short one leaps through the door with a whoop and drops down the flights of stairs, “Let’s get them bad guuuyyys!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. My Neighbors, the Silver-Bloods</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ultra Magnus gets the complaints from the law enforcement captains. It’s gotten so bad he’s finding out he’s the only one that can possibly do anything about it.<br/>“It’s politics because they’re silver-bloods...” “We don’t want to offend them and you’re friends with their hosts.” “What do you want us to do about it? Are we government officials now?”<br/>He drives all the way out there to shut them up.<br/>Megatron and Sonica found a good stretch of land miles outside the city. Megatron suggested it, not just because of the guest houses, and the look he gave her implied some inside reference through sly glances. Whatever that meant, it was important enough to make sure they were well outside main city limits.<br/>They got it done quickly too. Of course, with over 800 silver-bloods that can step over several clicks like they walk into another room and come back with supplies, it would be built fast.<br/>Sonica catered to some private likings Megatron had and built themselves a small mansion. She took the opportunity to also teach the silver-bloods about art. While it was under construction, Magnus had some concerns but it all came together at the end. It made him gasp when he first saw it. It’s impressive.<br/>The honoring memorials were unexpected. There are seven large statues on their property. Two hold two corners of the roof in the back of their mansion and two more have corners to the sides. The two in back are Breakdown and Doradus. The two on the side are Optimus and the first Phantom. The other four are smaller and stand in between the five, rectangular, two-story guest houses that form a semi-circle in front of the mansion. Those statues are Gemshade, Sonica, Megatron, and StormCoven. Each touch one of the guest houses, connecting them.<br/>Sonica swears it wasn’t their idea; only the four on their mansion where part of the original plan. Magnus can believe that.<br/>Despite the jealousy of the other citizens, Magnus doesn’t think their home excessive for what they need and want. The design is simple with no extra colors save what’s painted behind the statues, putting the characters in their element. Optimus has Cybertron behind him, Breakdown has a likeness of the AllSpark; the Phantom has Chrysalis, and Doradus has an abstract depiction of the energon types combined.<br/>The guest houses each have two large sculptures of the spires from Chrysalis in the front. The back walls of the houses that face the mansion, all have an enlarged and continuous painting of the nebula that arched over their sky. From the mansion’s front door, guests see the detailed art broken into pieces, but connected by the statues in the spaces between.<br/>Though Ultra Magnus hasn’t seen Chrysalis, Sonica tells him the art captures its likeness well and he thinks it’s quite lovely. And one day, it’ll be converted into a learning center when Megatron and Sonica pass away. They submitted the files for it before they began building.<br/>They’ve earned this. Megatron still leads the mining efforts and Sonica monitors the harvest. <br/>At one time, people tried to argue that they didn’t because Megatron was a war criminal. The first and last time they did, Sonica slammed her heavy authority of Doradus over their heads and gave Megatron an honorary title of guardian over her mortal coil. Then finally stated that because of him and his changing spark, she continues to fuel Cybertron with hopes that war will change to peace, as Megatron did.<br/>That was the first time Ultra Magnus laughed out loud in ages. He hasn’t gotten a single complaint about that since.<br/>After the long drive over the new, hardly used, highway to their place, he transforms and walks to their door. The guest houses are empty for the time being, as he notices the dark windows, and all the noise comes from the lit up, arched window over the double front doors.<br/>With a sigh, he rings their doorbell. Somehow, they hear the thing over all the cheers, laughter, and music.<br/>Megatron answers and there’s an awkward pause as they stare at each other.<br/>“Sorry.” He states flatly; he knows why Magnus is here.<br/>Ultra Magnus waves his hand, “I know you two have your hands full. I’m here mostly to say I came and talked to you.”<br/>“It’s their own game. Sonica isn’t going to ask them to stop.”<br/>“I know, I know, it’s their first step towards culture,” He second-guesses himself, “That’s how she phrased it, correct?”<br/>“Yes.”<br/>“Well, maybe there’s a place they can go that’s further away?”<br/>“Any further would be the Sea of Rust,” Megatron sighs, “And Sonica is still in the midst of keeping their cleaning schedule. It’s becoming a problem.” He pouts at some memories only he can see.<br/>That reminds Ultra Magnus, “Oh, by the way, we’ve got a small group of flyers working for the fire and rescue. Smokescreen says their fun mechs. He mentioned you and they’d like to meet you if you’re interested.”<br/>Megatron’s smile is soft and takes all the fatigue out of his face, “Did Sonica put you guys up to this?”<br/>Ultra Magnus has never been a good liar, “No.”<br/>He raises a brow.<br/>“She just wants to be sure you have a life outside of home. You’re here a lot.”<br/>“So is she,” He sighs but it’s more blissful than not, “Thank you for your efforts.”<br/>Something shatters behind him and the house goes quiet.<br/>Megatron blinks slowly, once, “I’ll give your offer some thought.”<br/>Magnus tries not to peek in and be rude, “Can I help with...?”<br/>“YES.” Sonica bellows from the hearth of the home.<br/>Ultra Magnus barely hears Megatron say “oh no” under his breath as he turns aside to let her storm towards the front doors.<br/>“Yes you can help, Ultra Magnus, sir. Won’t you please come on inside.” Her words are stiff and over-enunciated.<br/>He steps cautiously inside and she grabs his hand, pulling him in. He hears the doors shut behind him.<br/>“Where is it?” Megatron asks, following her at a fast but relaxed stride.<br/>“On the kitchen table,” Sonica curtly answers.<br/>He steers himself the opposite direction that Sonica drags Magnus.<br/>She quite literally, sets Magnus down in front of all 800+ eyes like a toy soldier.<br/>They make the enormous lounging space look tiny. The couches are full: seats, arms, and backing, and one big chair is holding five of them. They stand around the “lava lamp” and sit in the long window sills that take up most of two walls on either side of him. They pack themselves on the floor and all up the wide stairs. They touch each other but don’t look at all uncomfortable though they couldn’t possibly fit one more in this room. But...two more come out from some hidden hallway to his immediate left and shuffle in with the others on the bottom stairs.<br/>“Alright you guys,” Sonica begins, “We can’t keep doing this. See him?” She pauses to point. Ultra Magnus doesn’t move. “He’s here because the stacks of complaints we’re getting."<br/>"This needs fixing, do you agree?"<br/>Most of the them nod. The ones that don't, immediately begin thinking.<br/>“Good, good, good,” Sonica rests her elbow on Ultra Magnus’ arm and crosses her ankles, “So, ideas? How are we going to fix this?”<br/>Most of them stare blankly save the engineer workers and rescue teams. Ultra Magnus knows them by face only and he remembers because they are highly praised in their field. These busier silver-bloods are the ones taking the challenge to think.<br/>“Start thinking, I’m not micro-managing all of you. You need to do this on your own.”<br/>Ultra Magnus glances at Sonica and slightly clears his throat; maybe he can leave.<br/>Sonica doesn’t look at him but puts up a finger with a low voice, “I’ll get you a drink later, hang on.”<br/>He doesn’t bother to correct her. In the silence, he can hear Megatron messing with the pieces of whatever in the dining hall; even grumbling a little.<br/>One of the silver-bloods raises her head, glancing around at her kin shyly.<br/>Ultra Magnus recognizes her. She’s in the law enforcement. Smokescreen talks about her often.<br/>“Um...”<br/>They all turn and look at her.<br/>“Go ahead, Nightray, what’s up?”<br/>“Do you...”<br/>Sonica smiles kindly, “Just go for it. Even if it’s not refined, it’ll spark other ideas.”<br/>Nightray stands, “Do you think they’d like to watch us play?”<br/>The silver-bloods get excited about it and talk all at once. Sonica, from her comfortable position against Ultra Magnus, throws in one or two ideas as they start brainstorming about the playing field. They take her suggestion to make changes to Kaon to make the arena wider so they can play their game which they call Thunder Cube. They talk about making trackers so viewers can trace the paths they take on a screen when they disappear from normal sight. The only data clerk in the mass, suggests doing player high-lights so the audience can not only get to know them, but pick their favorites. The metal workers start drawing design ideas for goal posts and the five architects start measuring and sketching possibilities from what they find on the map, which they pulled from one of the shelves near the lava lamp. It was a team effort, passing it over the heads of the others to the ones on the floor shoving away feet so they can draw.<br/>Megatron comes up on the other side of Magnus from Sonica.<br/>They don’t look at each other but a whole conversation takes place.<br/>“Trash?”<br/>“Yeah.” He takes a sip from his cup of energon.<br/>“Slag.”<br/>“Who?”<br/>“Take a guess.”<br/>“Again?”<br/>“Yep.” Sonica makes a popping sound with her lips. <br/>“For Primus sake, do I need to play bad guy?”<br/>Sonica gives him a look across Magnus’ chest, “How’s that going to help?”<br/>He doesn’t even look at her, “Scare him. I can do that.”<br/>“No,” She smirks, “though you and I would be amused, it’s not going to work.”<br/>He raises a brow at her, “But we get something out of it. I’ll wear a camera.”<br/>Sonica’s courtesy laugh is almost fully genuine. When that’s over, she asks him for something simply by saying, “Please.”<br/>Megatron bellows and all motion stops. He takes another sip of his energon.<br/>She smiles and gives him a loving glance before turning back to the silver-bloods, “Before you get hyped up about these plans,” She gestures though she leans on Ultra Magnus’ arm, “we need to ask for permission first.”<br/>All optics look at Magnus.<br/>Now she talks to her guest, “I think they’re pretty serious about this. Is there a process their idea needs to go through to get approval?”<br/>Ultra Magnus glances at all the hopeful faces; trying to adjust to all the sudden attention.<br/>“If it’s not going to work out, you can say so. They’ll have lots of other ideas.”<br/>“Um, no, I mean it does sound great. You would only need a popular vote.”<br/>Smiles spread throughout the faces.<br/>“Hold on, hold on,” Sonica pulls their attention back to her, “we need to do this right. We already have complaints.”<br/>They begin brainstorming again and for a moment, Ultra Magnus doesn’t think he’ll be able to leave.<br/>Sonica stands and ushers him to the dining room, “I’ll get you that drink now.”<br/>Ultra Magnus glances at Megatron as he empties his glass. He only nods and turns to follow her, so, as rules of politeness go, he follows them.<br/>Whatever was in pieces on the table has already been swept away. He takes a seat at the empty but glossy table as Megatron pours him a glass and refills his own. He checks with Sonica and she hardly has to shake her head. He nods and brings Magnus his glass.<br/>Sonica sits down across from Magnus with a sigh, then she smiles at him, “Thank you for your help. You did great.”<br/>He looks up from his drink, “I didn’t do anything.”<br/>“Yes you did,” Megatron takes a sip.<br/>Sonica seconds his comment, “You really did.”<br/>He debates on asking how, just because he’s curious. “Well...if there’s nothing else I can do for you...?”<br/>“What’s Gemshade doing? Do you know?” Sonica asks and it catches him off guard.<br/>He shifts gears, “Oh, well...she’s still working in the what’s left of the Moon Bases. Arcee has visited often and says she’s really into the science she finds there. Last I heard, she’s making more of that detection device-- the mimic of your energon sight for the rescue teams. She’s also talked about duplicating the phase-shifter.”<br/>Sonica smiles with approving nods, “She does visit from time to time but...she doesn’t like being here if the others are crowding the lounge area and when I do have time to myself, she’s working so...”<br/>Ultra Magnus empathizes with a kind expression.<br/>“Oh, and Starscream?”<br/>The kind expression falls, “I’m sorry Sonica, but the public doesn’t think banishment is enough.”<br/>“So they want to terminate him,” She falls against the backing of her chair.<br/>Megatron walks over and strokes her shoulder softly with his thumb, “Have we tried everything?”<br/>“Yes,” She covers her eyes and hangs her head, “Gemshade won’t like it either. If I had more time, I would visit him in his cell as often as she does.”<br/>“You’d do that twice a day?” Magnus asks, surprised.<br/>“Twice? No, more like once...does she visit twice in a solar cycle?”<br/>Magnus nods once, “Those are the reports I’ve gotten. The law enforcement captain is getting suspicious. He knows Starscream can be manipulative.”<br/>Sonica is suddenly deep in thought, “I’ll contact her. We’ll talk.”<br/>He smiles slightly, “Thank you, though I’m not entirely worried about it. She’s a smart femme, like yourself.”<br/>“Thank you,” She says and they make their way for the front doors.<br/>Megatron and Sonica wish him safe travels and thank him again, with deepest gratitude, for his helpful stance in the room during Sonica’s lecture.<br/>He can’t say “you’re welcome”, it doesn’t feel right so he tries a bland pass, saying he didn’t do anything and they refute him in their own way.<br/>Once he’s walked past the guest houses, he transforms and speeds off. Each click he’s further away from their home, he feels the warmth fade further away. Though crowded, their home is a nice place to be; better than his empty apartment.<br/>Honestly, the citizens can complain all they want, he doesn’t mind the visits. And who knows, maybe Thunder Cube will be a huge hit that he can visit without the business errand.</p><p># # #</p><p>Sonica is cleaning up the lounge area when the front doors are thrown open with Megatron’s trademark growl.<br/>He bounds into the house at top speed, slamming a hand or elbow to stop himself at open archways to search the kitchen and the dining room before he finds Sonica in the lounge area; halted in surprise, mid-vacuuming.<br/>Megatron relaxes out of kill-mode but his hunting instincts are still flaring.<br/>“Um...something wrong, love?”<br/>“Where is he?”<br/>“Training with Smokescreen.”<br/>“Not the home-wrecker, I mean Starscream.”<br/>Sonica balks, “Wait, what?”<br/>“He escaped prison! I was sure this would be the first place he’d go--- crawling to you for mercy or hiding or whatever...so where is he?”<br/>“He’s not here,” She frowns with a hand on her hip.<br/>Megatron scrutinizes her.<br/>“Seriously? The only reason I have to lie to you is what I didn’t give you for a gift. Chill.”<br/>He fidgets slightly, glancing around, and tries to cool down as he walks to her, “I’m just glad your safe.”<br/>Sonica wants to retort to that but he still worries he’ll lose her sometimes. He hates leaving her alone and he calls often, just to hear her voice.<br/>“Yes, I’m safe,” She smiles sweetly as he takes her softly into his arms.<br/>A few cycles tick by and she feels him slowly relax. The worry doesn’t completely go away but it settles when his snug embrace loosens and his breaths cease.<br/>Now she can ask, “How did he escape?”<br/>“Didn’t ask. The moment Smokescreen contacted me, I flew straight here.”<br/>“Oh, he contacted you first?”<br/>Megatron pauses. Why did he contact him first? Why not Sonica if it was possible she would be the first target? He tries Smokescreen again and he answers. “Did you get him?”<br/>“No, he’s completely gone. His cuffs are un-tampered with and there are no holes in the walls...”<br/>“Why did you contact me first if you could’ve warned Sonica yourself?”<br/>“Because I wasn’t sure if Gemshade was there or not. I didn’t want to tip her off that we were looking for her too.”<br/>Megatron looks at Sonica and sees the shock on her face.<br/>“What?”<br/>Smokescreen hears through Megatron’s comlink, “I’m sorry, Sonica. The evidence is in the surveillance. She phased right into Starscream’s cell. The guard noticed and got there within two cycles and both of them were gone. I figured Megatron would be best defense if they were there.”<br/>Megatron straightens, almost smiling. Sonica notices and gives him a teasing look.<br/>“While I’ve got you two on the line, could I ask a favor?”<br/>“What is it?”<br/>“Could you try and do that...silver connection thing...with Gemshade? The others are being blocked hard and can’t get through. But they did say there’s a hole in her wall but only the right...brain frequency or something will penetrate it.”<br/>“I’ll try her right away.”<br/>“And, if you learn their location, will you tell me?”<br/>Sonica hesitates and Megatron waits patiently, “I’ll see what I can do. I can’t guarantee that she’ll let me see anything.”<br/>“Sounds good. I’ll wait your call back.”<br/>Once they’re disconnected, Megatron asks, “Are you going to let them escape?”<br/>Sonica doesn’t answer as she fuels up on silver and reaches through to Gemshade. The alertness on the other side tells her they’re connected.<br/>“Oh good. They did ask you to contact me. I hoped they would if they saw me get Starscream out of there.”<br/>“Yeah, lucky you. Want to tell me why you’re doing this?”<br/>Gemshade laughs, “Are you going to say you wouldn’t have done the same?”<br/>“There wasn’t anything I could do.”<br/>“Eh, you didn’t try hard enough.”<br/>“I wasn’t about to give up a good life for crime.”<br/>“I know, that’s why I did it.”<br/>Sonica’s brow furrows, “So what? You’re flying off with a mech with treacherous tendencies and think you’ll be exempt from his antics?” Sonica huffs, “Don’t you think that’s a bit unwise?”<br/>“Nope. Tell her, Starscream.”<br/>His profile shows in a mental image as he pilots a ship and a genuine smile graces his features. He looks different somehow. “This is the only good-bye I can do, Sonica, for that, I’m sorry.”<br/>She doesn’t say anything; he can’t hear her because it’s all through Gemshade’s mind.<br/>“I just want to say thanks for nothing--- and I mean that differently.<br/>“Remember sitting in the woods, after I lost my t-cog and you insisted that you didn’t want anything from me despite all your gifts? I finally understand what you meant. It wasn’t about what you were doing for me, it was about ‘nothing’. What I saw as a climbing debt was really just you setting me free. You gave me nothing so that I could do something with it. I still can’t shake the feeling...that I owe you. I know I owe you.”<br/>Starscream struggles to keep his voice smooth, “I also know that I can’t undo or take back what I did. When you were gone...” His optics fall shut, “I felt all those burdens return...that’s when I began to see that ‘nothing’ was actually my freedom...but it didn’t click until I could talk to you again and...” He tilts his head back against the seat and takes in a deep breath, “you gave me ‘nothing’ again; no punishment, no abandonment... I was almost happy in that prison--- I got what I deserved. I was paying for it at last. The only reason my death sentence bothered me... I was loosing the chance to do it right. I finally learned...and I wasn’t going to be allowed to utilize it.”<br/>Starscream sits up and his stare is locked ahead, he takes another breath and cools. His usual suave returns, “We wouldn’t have worked out. You scare me.”<br/>Megatron watches Sonica go from touched to giggly. He smiles a little and puts and arm around her.<br/>“I’m too filthy for saints.” He finally turns and smiles, “But thanks for nothing.”<br/>The image disappears but the connection stays. Sonica’s buries her face into Megatron’s side as her breath intake struggles to regulate her overwhelmed systems. He holds her tightly; watching helplessly but listening. She clings to him, squeezing, as the emotion shakes her whole body.<br/>He can’t wait much longer, “Are you okay?”<br/>Sonica can only nod.<br/>“Happy or sad?”<br/>She forces her respiratory system to draw in slowly. Though her grip on him doesn’t ease up, her breathing finally does and she’s able to answer, “Proud.”<br/>Gemshade’s touched smile echoes through the connection, “And I thank you too...that’s all I’ve got. I can’t follow up after that amazing speech.”<br/>Sonica laughs a little, still fighting to settle.<br/>“Ping me anytime you miss us--- and hopefully that’s not too often--” Gemshade chuckles, “Love you, Mom.”<br/>“Mom?”<br/>“What? Ah man, I wasn’t supposed to be the first one to call you that. Slackers.”<br/>“What is ‘mom’?”<br/>“Ask Arcee. She told me and I thought the description suit you well.”<br/>“Wha-?”<br/>“Tell Dad I love him too-- thanks-- bye.”<br/>Megatron’s impatience flares as she’s suddenly pulling a confused face.</p><p>###</p><p>Sonica grins watching the citizens meet with the players of Thunder Cube. The booms were easier to bear with a slight sound barrier but from what she’s hearing the new fans say: the vibrations through the air and their seats was thrilling.<br/>The silver-bloods are good and tired. They’ll be in their own beds when this is over.<br/>Megatron comes up behind her to state this out loud and an exchanged look from the corner of their eyes establishes a plan for their free time.<br/>StormCoven jogs up to them as the audience starts to ebb. Only former-team Prime lingers.<br/>StormCoven beams, “That went amazingly well! Thanks for luring the audience here with your songs, Eclipse.”<br/>“You thank me like it was hard to do.” She smirks, “It was my pleasure.”<br/>Megatron grins down his height at her, “Couldn’t be as much pleasure as I got watching you.”<br/>Sonica turns slowly, slyly, “Are you starting a game with me, Megs?”<br/>“I like dangerous games as much as you do.”<br/>StormCoven starts backing up, “Alright then. I’ll just go...wash my audio receptors.”<br/>As the audience tapers off and plans for the next game are set, the silver-bloods start shuffling to get ready to whole-stride home. Before they do, they all wave and thank the bots for coming.<br/>“Ultra Magnus, sir. Thank you for your attendance.”<br/>“See you at work tomorrow, Bulkhead.”<br/>“Teacher,” He gives him an intense look, “call me if there’s bad guys, I don’t care if I’m powered down. You call me.”<br/>“Good seeing you Rachet! Thanks for coming!”<br/>Several of them give Bumblebee high fives, “I’m your favorite right?”<br/>Arcee waves to them and Knockout asks one of them to be there to help open his detail shop.<br/>“Thanks Mom, see you after my powerdown.”<br/>“Dad, you working tomorrow?”<br/>Megatron sighs, “Yes.”<br/>“I’ll come help and try and get Iscablast to come with me. I still don’t like the idea of you digging.”<br/>“I’m...fine...”<br/>“Thank you, Mom. You looked great up there!”<br/>“I waved to you, did you see me?”<br/>She sighs, “Yes, I did.”<br/>They all finally leave and Sonica whips around pointing, “You.”<br/>Arcee flinches, “Me?”<br/>“Yes, you. You helped start all this.”<br/>Megatron folds his arms.<br/>“What did I do?”<br/>“You told Gemshade what a mom and dad were. Now they won’t stop.” Sonica gets dramatic with her gestures, “We NEED them to be independent, Arcee. How are they going to do that if they see us as their caretakers?”<br/>“Gemshade started that, not me. I was only talking about Jack and she asked a question. Should I have foreseen she was going to do this?”<br/>Smokescreen chuckles, “I’ll save you, Arcee.” He takes front, “Sonica.”<br/>She sets a hand on her hip with a smirk, “Are you going to ask again?”<br/>“I am a cop.”<br/>“Yes, I do still contact them.”<br/>“Do you know where they are?”<br/>“Nope, I’m not allowed to. Tradition goes a Phantom is not to be known or located.”<br/>He knew she would say that and he finally has a retort to it. “So does that make you two Sade?”<br/>Smokescreen laughs, getting the hard stares he wanted.<br/>Knockout floats over to Sonica, arms wide.<br/>“Ah femme, it was so nice to see you on a stage again. The nostalgia hit me hard. I could almost hear Starscream’s whining.”<br/>They all laugh; even the quiet chucklers like Magnus and Megatron.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading. This was tons of fun for me, I hope it was thus for you.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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